Administrative / Constitutional Law

Constitutions and the Classics Patterns of Constitutional Thought from Fortescue to Bentham

By Denis Galligan
Oxford University Press December 2014

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780198714989
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication
December 2014
Format
Hardback , 464 pages
Jurisdiction
U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

  • Unveils the history and development of Western constitutional thought
  • Examines the contributions of key thinkers in the UK, America, and France at critical stages of the development of constitutional thought
  • Multi-disciplinary approach draws from law, history, and political theory

The period from the fifteenth century to the late eighteenth century was one of critical importance to British constitutionalism. Although the seeds were sown in earlier eras, it was at this point that the constitution was transformed to a system of representative parliamentary government. Changes at the practical level of the constitution were accompanied by a wealth of ideas on constitutions written from different - and often competing - perspectives. Hobbes and Locke, Harrington, Hume, and Bentham, Coke, the Levellers, and Blackstone were all engaged in the constitutional affairs of the day, and their writings influenced the direction and outcome of constitutional thought and development. They treated themes of a universal and timeless character and as such have established themselves of lasting interest and importance in the history of constitutional thought. Examining their works we can follow the shaping of contemporary ideas of constitutions, and the design of constitutional texts.

At the same time major constitutional change and upheaval were taking place in America and France. This was an era of intense discussion, examination, and constitution-making. The new nation of the United States looked to authors such as Locke, Hume, Harrington, and Sydney for guidance in their search for a new republicanism, adding to the development of constitutional thought and practice. This collection includes chapters examining the influences of Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams. In France the influence of Rousseau was apparent in the revolutionary constitution, and Sieyes was an active participant in its discussion and design. Montesquieu and de Maistre reflected on the nature of constitutions and constitutional government, and these French writers drew on, engaged with, and challenged the British and American writers. The essays in this volume reveal a previously unexplored dynamic relationship between the authors of the three nations, explaining the intimate connection between ruler and ruled.

Readership: Scholars and advanced students of constitutional theory, legal history and the history of constitutional thought, and politics.

Table of Contents

1: D. J. Galligan and C. Palmer: Patterns of Constitutional Thought from Fortescue to Bentham
2: M.R.L.L. Kelly: Sir John Fortescue and the Political Dominium: The People, the Common Weal, and the King
3: Ian Williams: Edward Coke
4: Tom Sorell: Constitutions in Hobbes's Science of Politics
5: D. J. Galligan: The Levellers, the People, and the Constitution
6: Jean-Fabien Spitz: Locke's Contribution to the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Constitutionalism
7: J. C. Davis: Narrative Constitutionalism and the Kinetics of James Harrington's Oceana
8: John Adams: David Hume: Constitution by Convention
9: Wilfrid Prest: William Blackstone and the 'free Constitution of Britain'
10: Philip Schofield: Constitutions and the Classics: Jeremy Bentham
11: Giovanni Grottanelli de'Santi: Montesquieu
12: Ruhza Smilova: The General Will Constitution: Rousseau as a Constitutionalist
13: Raymond Kubben: L'abbé de Sieyès: Champion of National Representation, Father of Constitutions
14: Mila Versteeg: 'Perfection in Imperfection': Joseph de Maistre and the Limitations of Constitutional Design
15: Mark A. Graber: James Madison's Republican Constitutionalism
16: M.N.S. Sellers: The Constitutional Thought of Alexander Hamilton
17: Gerald Leonard: Jefferson's Constitutions
18: David Thomas Konig: John Adams, Constitution Monger
19: Richard Whatmore: Thomas Paine

About the Author

Denis Galligan is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Director of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. He is also a Professorial Fellow of Wolfson College, Jean Monnet Professor of European Public Law at the Universita degli Studi di Siena, and a Visiting Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His works include Law and Society (OUP, 2005).

Contributors: 

John W. Adams is Adjunct Professor in Political Science at Rutgers University, and Chairman of the Foundation for Law, Justice, and Society at Wolfson College, University of Oxford.
J. C. Davis is Professor Emeritus in the School of History at the University of East Anglia.
D. J. Galligan is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford.
Mark A. Graber is Professor of Law and Government at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.
Giovanni Grottanelli de'Santi is Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Siena.
M.R.L.L. Kelly is a senior lecturer at Macquarie Law School.
David Thomas Konig is Professor of Law and Professor of History at Washington University Law.
Raymond Kubben is assistant professor in the Department for Public Law, Jurisprudence and Legal History at Tilburg University.
Gerald Leonard Is Professor Of law at the Boston University School of Law.
C. Palmer is a DPhil student at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.
Wilfrid Prest is Professor Emeritus at the University of Adelaide.
Philip Schofield is Professor of the History of Legal and Political thought at University College London.
M.N.S. Sellers is Regents Professor of Law and Director, Center for International & Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore.
Ruhza Smilova is a senior assistant professor at the Political Science Department of Sofia University.
Tom Sorell is Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Warwick.
Jean-Fabien Spitz is Professor of Philosophy at the Panthéon-Sorbonne Université Paris 1.
Mila Versteeg is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Richard Whatmore is Professor at the University of St Andrews School of History.
Ian Williams is a lecturer at University College London.

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