Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:39:08.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Principles of Constitutional Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2019

Jacob Weinrib
Jacob Weinrib*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
*
Email: jacob.weinrib@queensu.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In legal orders around the world, commitments to democracy, liberalism and constitutionalism are increasingly eroding. Although political and constitutional theorists often lament this trend, they invariably adopt frameworks that are indifferent to these commitments. My aims in this article are both critical and constructive. As a critical matter, I will expose the indifference of the leading political and constitutional theories to the emergence, maintenance and refinement of liberal democratic constitutional orders. As a constructive matter, I will draw on Immanuel Kant’s constitutional theory to explain why realizing such a form of governance is a public duty and why receding from it is a public wrong.

Keywords

constitutional reformconstitutional amendmentsauthorityjusticeconstitutiveregulativeconstituent power
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 24 , Special Issue 4: Special Issue on Kant & Law , December 2019 , pp. 631 - 651
Copyright
© Kantian Review, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, Bruce (1991) We the People: Foundations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ackerman, Bruce (1994) ‘Rooted Cosmopolitanism’. Ethics, 104, 516–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calhoun, John C. (2003) ‘A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States’. In Cheek, H. Lee Jr (ed.), John C. Calhoun: Selected Writings and Speeches (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing), pp. 61–222.Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, David (2012) ‘Constitutionalism in an Old Key: Legality and Constituent Power’. Global Constitutionalism, 1, 229–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, Julius (1953) ‘The Law of Humanity and the Limits of State Power’. Philosophy Quarterly, 3, 14–24.Google Scholar
Finnis, John (2007) ‘Natural Law Theories’. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), ed. Zalta, Edward N.. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/natural-law-theories/.Google Scholar
Huq, Aziz and Ginsburg, Tom (2018) ‘How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy’. UCLA Law Review, 65, 78–169.Google Scholar
Joerden, Jan (1995) ‘From Anarchy to Republic: Kant’s History of State Constitutions’. In Robinson, Hoke (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Kant Congress, vol. 1 (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press), pp. 139–56.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1992) Conflict of the Faculties. Trans. Gregor, Mary J.. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1996) Practical Philosophy. Trans. and ed. Gregor, Mary J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (2016) Lectures and Drafts on Political Philosophy. Trans. Rauscher, Frederick and Westphal, Kenneth R.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kumm, Mattias (2010) ‘The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Between Constitutional Triumphalism and Nostalgia’. In Dobner, Petra and Loughlin, Martin (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 201–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurlantzick, Joshua (2014) Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Loughlin, Martin (2003) The Idea of Public Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Loughlin, Martin (2010) Foundations of Public Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loughlin, Martin (2014) ‘The Concept of Constituent Power’. European Journal of Political Theory, 13, 218–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, Bernd (2009) ‘Commentary on Kant’s Treatment of Constitutional Right’. In Ameriks, Karl and Höffe, Otfried (eds), Kant’s Moral and Legal Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 265–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maliks, Reidar (2013) ‘Kant, the State and Revolution’. Kantian Review, 18, 29–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinzani, Alessandro (2008) ‘Representation in Kant’s Political Philosophy’. Jahrbuch für Recht und Ethik, 16, 203–26.Google Scholar
Plattner, Marc. F. (2015) ‘Is Democracy in Decline?’ Journal of Democracy, 26, 5–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John (1996) Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Ripstein, Arthur (2009) Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheppele, Kim Lane (2019) ‘Autocracy under Cover of the Transnational Legal Order’. In Ginsberg, Tom, Halliday, Terence C. and Schaffer, Gregory (eds), Constitution-Making and Transnational Legal Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 188–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, Carl (2008) Constitutional Theory. Trans. Seitzer, Jeffrey. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sieyès, Emmanuel Joseph (2003) Political Writings. Trans. Sonenscher, Michael. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Tribe, Laurence H. (2008) The Invisible Constitution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Washington, George (1944) The Writings of George Washington, vol. 29. Ed. Fitzpatrick, John C.. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Weinrib, Jacob (2014) ‘Permissive Laws and the Dynamism of Kantian Justice’. Law and Philosophy, 33, 105–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinrib, Jacob (2016) Dimensions of Dignity: The Theory and Practice of Modern Constitutional Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinrib, Jacob (2019) ‘Sovereignty as a Right and as a Duty’. In Finkelstein, Claire and Skerker, Michael (eds), Sovereignty and the New Executive Authority (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 21–46.Google Scholar