Entrenched Clause

An entrenched clause or entrenchment clause of a basic law or constitution is a provision which makes certain amendments either more difficult or impossible, i.e., inadmissible. It may require a form of supermajority, a referendum submitted to the people, or the consent of another party.

An entrenched clause whose intent is to prevent subsequent amendments, will, once it is adopted, and provided that it is correctly drafted, make some portion of a basic law or constitution irrevocable except through the assertion of the right of revolution.

Any amendment to a basic law or constitution which would not satisfy the prerequisites enshrined in a valid entrenched clause would lead to so-called "unconstitutional constitutional law", i.e. an amendment to constitutional law text which would appear to be constitutional law only by its form, albeit being unconstitutional as with respect to the procedure in which it has been enacted, or as to the material content of its provisions.

Entrenched clauses are, in some cases, justified as protecting the rights of a minority from the dangers of majoritarianism or in other cases, the objective may be to prevent amendments to the basic law or constitution which would pervert the fundamental principles enshrined in it, in particular to prevent the creation of a "legalistic" dictatorship. But entrenched clauses are often challenged by their opponents as being "undemocratic".