What Makes Constitutions Endure

The average national constitution lasts under twenty years, yet a handful have run for centuries. Enduring constitutions share traits: they are specific enough to constrain but general enough to adapt, they are hard but not impossible to amend, and they are enforced by institutions that outlive any single government.

The United States text of 1787, Norways of 1814, and Belgians of 1831 survived wars and occupations because courts, legislatures, and publics kept referring to them. Flexibility through interpretation, as with the US commerce clause, lets old texts govern new worlds without textual overhaul..