Nepal, July 11 -- At this transitional juncture, a constitution cannot be labelled merely as a legal document. It is, above all, a record of struggle, drafted to stabilise hard-won principles being undone by the arrogance of a passing majority's vote. Nepal is no exception.

This idea is being tested, quietly but persistently, wherever nations weigh how far they may go in altering their own founding charters/constitution. It may sound technical, but it addresses the most profound paradox in constitutional law: A constitution confers the authority to alter it. To what extent, then, can that power go before it subverts the authority that gave it? Unfettered discretion of amendment allows those whose power is supposed to be limited to set th...