Details
- International comparative approach to federal constitutional jurisprudence, looking at six major jurisdictions: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, South Africa, United States
- Contributions from leading authorities from each jurisdiction, including Mark Tushnet (United State); Peter Hogg (Canada); Jeffrey Goldsworthy (Australia); Donald Kommers (Germany); S. P. Sathe (India) and Heinz Klug (South Africa)
- Examines the use different interpretative approaches in practice, including textualism, purposivism, structuralism and originalism
- Comparative reference to different social, historical, institutional and political circumstances sets the legal analysis in its broader context
This book describes the constitutions of six major federations and how they have been interpreted by their highest courts, compares the interpretive methods and underlying principles that have guided the courts, and explores the reasons for major differences between these methods and principles.
Among the interpretive methods discussed are textualism, purposivism, structuralism and originalism. Each of the six federations is the subject of a separate chapter written by a leading authority in the field: Jeffrey Goldsworthy (Australia), Peter Hogg (Canada), Donald Kommers (Germany), S.P. Sathe (India), Heinz Klug (South Africa), and Mark Tushnet (United States). Each chapter describes not only the interpretive methodology currently used by the courts, but the evolution of that methodology since the constitution was first enacted. The book also includes a concluding chapter which compares these methodologies, and attempts to explain variations by reference to different social, historical, institutional and political circumstances.
Readership: Constitutional lawyers, comparative lawyers, political theorists and historians.
1: Introduction
2: Mark Tushnet: United States: Eclecticism In the Service of Pragmatism
3: Peter Hogg: Canada: From Privy Council to Supreme Court
4: Jeffrey Goldsworthy: Australia: Devotion to Legalism
5: Donald Kommers: Germany: Balancing Rights and Duties
6: S.P. Sathe: India: From Positivism to Structuralism
7: Heinz Klug: South Africa: From Constitutional Promise to Social Transformation
8: Conclusions
Edited by Jeffrey Goldsworthy, Professor of Law, Monash University
Contributors:
Mark Tushnet, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington
Peter Hogg, Professor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto
Jeffrey Goldsworthy, Personal Chair in the Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne
Donald Kommers, Joseph and Elizabeth Robbie Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, United States
S.P. Sathe, Honorary Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Pune
Heinz Klug, Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin
"The book is a success. The essays are largely coherent in both structure and vocabulary; the authors manage to insert distinct perspectives while keeping to their organizational discipline; and the essays support readers in generating ideas for new research directions. Although the book focuses on questions of constitutional interpretation, the comparative orientation and the scope of constitutional questions that each essay addresses will make it a valuable reference for political scientists and political theorists, not just lawyers. The book will prove especially useful to graduate students or researchers contemplating a shift in their primary research direction." - Mariah Zeisberg, The Law and Politics Book Review (Vol. 16, No. 8)
