We began this symposium asking three questions that ought to be at the heart of debates about the functions and operation of constitutions: how much value should be attributed to these texts; what is their relationship with state identity and culture…
Read MoreIn his recent book, Brian Jones defines ‘constitutional idolatry’ as “drastically or persistently overselling the importance and effects of written constitutions.” Jones prefers ‘political constitutionalism’ (in which legal primacy rests in majoritarian decision-making institutions such as Parliaments) to ‘legal constitutionalism’…
Read MoreThis post aims to explore the relationship between the lack of formal constitutional amendments in Japan and the general public’s perception of the Constitution by focusing on public surveys and education…
Read MoreHowever one feels about the outcome of Love v Commonwealth of Australia, one of the most controversial High Court of Australia decisions in recent memory, there appears to be little doubt that the methods and legal reasoning used to get to where the judges ultimately got was unorthodox..
Read MoreIn his book ‘Constitutional Idolatry and Democracy’, Brian Christopher Jones describes constitutional idolatry as ‘drastically or persistently over-selling the importance and effects of written constitutions’. For a scholar trained in Dutch constitutional law this is a rather foreign concept…
Read MoreSlinging the constitution across the table to the Prime Minister in a national security council meeting may not be the only way to trigger a national crisis, but it is one that requires the existence of a codified constitution. The ability to (literally) throw down the constitutional gauntlet might be all there is to be gained from having a codified constitution, if Brian Christopher Jones’s main argument in Constitutional Idolatry and Democracy is taken to the extreme.
Read MoreThe supreme law in Taiwan is officially known as the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC Constitution), which was enacted in Nanjing, China in 1947. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the then ruling party, the Kuomintang Party (KMT), fled to Taiwan, with the nascent ROC Constitution in tow.
Read MoreI strongly believe the “veneration” directed at the U.S. Constitution has become almost a “clear and present danger”; it blinds Americans to the possibility that certain features of the 1787 Constitution contribute to the current dysfunctionality in the United States.
Read MoreContemporary constitutions not only set up the institutional infrastructure and allocate state powers; they are also expected to inspire, strengthen public confidence and trust, bring government and the people closer together, enhance citizenship, and give expression to a society’s sense of self.
Read MoreThe blog of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL)
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