- limited constitution
- A constitution which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority; such, for instance, as that it shall pass no bills of attainder, no ex post facto laws, and the like. Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of the courts of justice. Per Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist, No. 78.
Ballentine's law dictionary. Anderson, W.S.. 1998.