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32 - Capabilities and the Law

from Part III - Issues in Public Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2020

By
Katharine Gelber
Edited by
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti ,
Siddiqur Osmani  and
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti
Affiliation:
University of Pavia
Siddiqur Osmani
Affiliation:
Ulster University
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Affiliation:
University of York
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Summary

This chapter interrogates the proper function of the law from a capabilities perspective. It argues that an application of the capabilities approach to understanding the law, especially constitutional law, is both normatively appropriate, and embedded in the realization of the capabilities approach’s goals. A recognized purpose of constitutions is to embed values, and entitlements commensurate with those values, into the foundational legal mechanisms of a country. Using examples from constitutions around the globe, the chapter shows concrete ways in which the capabilities approach finds expression in two ways suggested by Nussbaum: conceptions of citizen entitlements, and the interpretation of legal provisions. The chapter concludes by recognizing that viewing constitutions — both written and unwritten — from a capabilities approach is a vivid example of making visible the philosophic choices made by those who drafted the documents (where the discussion focusses on written constitutions), and those tasked with interpreting constitutional law in the context of people’s real, lived experiences. This approach to understanding the law is entirely consistent with the capability approach’s emphasis on an active role for government in providing the conditions that make real choices — about what to do and who to be — possible.

Keywords

constitutional lawpublic lawlimited governmentvaluesflourishingpolicyentitlementsreasoning
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach , pp. 643 - 659
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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