Download or read book The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Change in America written by John R. Vile and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 1993 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only volume of its kind, this book provides diverse readings relevant to the topic of constitutional amendment and change. Beginning with sources that were part of the cultural heritage of America's Founding Fathers, the book proceeds to trace debates over the desirability and frequency of constitutional change and the adequacy of the constitutional amending process from the Revolutionary War period to the present. Included are debates over general principles, texts and discussions of individual amendments, and relevant judicial decisions. Where possible, readings are paired to show rival views; each selection is prefaced by an explanation of the reading's context and significance.
Download or read book Responding to Imperfection written by Sanford Levinson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-24 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.
Download or read book Constitutional Change in the United States written by John R. Vile and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1994-08-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The processes of constitutional change in America are particularly difficult to understand because of the constant interaction between the constitutional document of 1787 and the wider set of understandings and practices surrounding that document. This work is the first to examine systematically the relationship between changes initiated by constitutional amendment and changes initiated by judicial interpretations or actions of the two elected branches of government. By examining and comparing all three mechanisms of constitutional revision, Vile offers a more complex and dynamic analysis of this important constitutional issue than can be found elsewhere in the literature.
Download or read book Constitutional Amendments written by Richard Albert and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions is both a roadmap for navigating the intellectual universe of constitutional amendments and a blueprint for building and improving the rules of constitutional change. Drawing from dozens of constitutions in every region of the world, this book blends theory with practice to answer two all-important questions: what is an amendment and how should constitutional designers structure the procedures of constitutional change? The first matters now more than ever. Reformers are exploiting the rules of constitutional amendment, testing the limits of legal constraint, undermining the norms of democratic government, and flouting the constitution as written to create entirely new constitutions that masquerade as ordinary amendments. The second question is central to the performance and endurance of constitutions. Constitutional designers today have virtually no resources to guide them in constructing the rules of amendment, and scholars do not have a clear portrait of the significance of amendment rules in the project of constitutionalism. This book shows that no part of a constitution is more important than the procedures we use change it. Amendment rules open a window into the soul of a constitution, exposing its deepest vulnerabilities and revealing its greatest strengths. The codification of amendment rules often at the end of the text proves that last is not always least.
Download or read book Recent Changes in American Constitutional Theory written by John William Burgess and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the changes in American constitutional theory from the Spanish-American War to the 1920s. It argues that contemporary developments in constitutional theory and law could be troubling for the country and offers suggestions on how America can correct its course.
Download or read book Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments written by Yaniv Roznai and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can constitutional amendments be unconstitutional? Using theoretical and comparative approaches, Roznai establishes the nature and scope of constitutional amendment powers by focusing on substantive limitations, looking at their prevalence in practice and the conceptual coherence of the very idea of limitations to constitutional amendment powers.
Download or read book Amending America s Unwritten Constitution written by Richard Albert and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is well known that the US Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times since its creation in 1787, but that number does not reflect the true extent of constitutional change in America. Although the Constitution is globally recognized as a written text, it consists also of unwritten rules and principles that are just as important, such as precedents, customs, traditions, norms, presuppositions, and more. These, too, have been amended, but how does that process work? In this book, leading scholars of law, history, philosophy, and political science consider the many theoretical, conceptual, and practical dimensions of what it means to amend America's 'unwritten Constitution': how to change the rules, who may legitimately do it, why leaders may find it politically expedient to enact written instead of unwritten amendments, and whether anything is lost by changing the constitution without a codified constitutional amendment.
Download or read book Women and the U S Constitution written by Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2004-02-18 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women and the U.S. Constitution is about much more than the nineteenth amendment. This provocative volume incorporates law, history, political theory, and philosophy to analyze the U.S. Constitution as a whole in relation to the rights and fate of women. Divided into three parts—History, Interpretation, and Practice—this book views the Constitution as a living document, struggling to free itself from the weight of a two-hundred-year-old past and capable of evolving to include women and their concerns. Feminism lacks both a constitutional theory as well as a clearly defined theory of political legitimacy within the framework of democracy. The scholars included here take significant and crucial steps toward these theories. In addition to constitutional issues such as federalism, gender discrimination, basic rights, privacy, and abortion, Women and the U.S. Constitution explores other issues of central concern to contemporary women—areas that, strictly speaking, are not yet considered a part of constitutional law. Women's traditional labor and its unique character, and women and the welfare state, are two examples of topics treated here from the perspective of their potentially transformative role in the future development of constitutional law.
Download or read book The Nature of the American Constitution written by Walter F. Murphy and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments written by Richard Albert and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative book blends constitutional theory with real-life political practice to explore the impact of codifying constitutional amendments on the operation of the constitution in relation to democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. It draws from comparative, historical, political and theoretical perspectives to answer questions all constitutional designers should ask themselves: - Should the constitution append amendments sequentially to the end of the text? - Should it embed amendments directly into the existing text, with notations about what has been modified and how? - Should it instead insert amendments into the text without indicating at all that any alteration has occurred? The book examines the 3 major models of amendment codification - the appendative, the integrative, and the invisible models - and also shows how some jurisdictions have innovated alternative forms of amendment codification that combine elements of more than 1 model in a unique hybridisation driven by history, law, and politics. Constitutional designers rarely consider where in the constitution to codify amendments once they are ratified. Yet this choice is pivotal to the operation of any constitution. This groundbreaking book shows why the placement of constitutional amendments goes well beyond mere aesthetics. It influences how and whether a people remembers its past, how the constitutional text will be interpreted and by whom, and whether the constitution will be easily accessible to the governed. A global tour of the high stakes of constitution-making, this book features 18 diverse and outstanding scholars from around the world - across Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, and Europe - raising new questions, opening our eyes to new streams of research, and uncovering new possibilities for constitutional design.
Download or read book Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil written by Mark A. Graber and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-07-03 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil , first published in 2006, concerns what is entailed by pledging allegiance to a constitutional text and tradition saturated with concessions to evil. The Constitution of the United States was originally understood as an effort to mediate controversies between persons who disputed fundamental values, and did not offer a vision of the good society. In order to form a 'more perfect union' with slaveholders, late-eighteenth-century citizens fashioned a constitution that plainly compelled some injustices and was silent or ambiguous on other questions of fundamental right. This constitutional relationship could survive only as long as a bisectional consensus was required to resolve all constitutional questions not settled in 1787. Dred Scott challenges persons committed to human freedom to determine whether antislavery northerners should have provided more accommodations for slavery than were constitutionally strictly necessary or risked the enormous destruction of life and property that preceded Lincoln's new birth of freedom.
Download or read book Too Young to Run written by John Evan Seery and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Examines the history, theory, and politics behind the age qualifications for elected federal office in the United States Constitution. Argues that the right to run for office ought to be extended to all adult-age citizens who are otherwise office-eligible"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book New Constitutionalism in Latin America written by Almut Schilling-Vacaflor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latin America has a long tradition of constitutional reform. Since the democratic transitions of the 1980s, most countries have amended their constitutions at least once, and some have even undergone constitutional reform several times. The global phenomenon of a new constitutionalism, with enhanced rights provisions, finds expression in the region, but the new constitutions, such as those of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, also have some peculiar characteristics which are discussed in this important book. Authors from a number of different disciplines offer a general overview of constitutional reforms in Latin America since 1990. They explore the historical, philosophical and doctrinal differences between traditional and new constitutionalism in Latin America and examine sources of inspiration. The book also covers sociopolitical settings, which factors and actors are relevant for the reform process, and analyzes the constitutional practices after reform, including the question of whether the recent constitutional reforms created new post-liberal democracies with an enhanced human and social rights record, or whether they primarily serve the ambitions of new political leaders.
Download or read book The Law of Article V written by ROBERT G. NATELSON and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's possible: we Americans can fix our broken federal government. Our Founders made sure of it. For 50 years, political insiders have been trying to suppress all knowledge of how to reform our government. No longer! In this book, America's leading active scholar on the constitutional amendment process reveals how we can bypass Congress to win the reforms we need. Relying on three centuries of history, over two centuries of decided case law, and vast historical and legal research, Professor Natelson answers such questions as: * How does the Constitution let us bypass Congress to get the reforms we need? * What exactly is a "convention for proposing amendments"--and what it is not? * How is the convention organized and governed? * What are the legal rules governing the process? * Which writings about the amendment process are reliable--and which are just propaganda? The Law of Article V is an indispensable guide for all Americans who love their country.
Download or read book Legitimacy and History written by Paul W. Kahn and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Americans, legitimate government means self-government. In this brilliant and disturbing analysis, Paul W. Kahn shows that the American Constitution itself makes self-government impossible. Constitutional theory, he argues, has been a history of failed attempts to resolve this paradox.
Download or read book The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments written by Richard Albert (Law professor) and published by Hart Publishing. This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This innovative book blends constitutional theory with real-life political practice to explore the impact of codifying constitutional amendments on the operation of the constitution in relation to democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. It draws from comparative, historical, political and theoretical perspectives to answer questions all constitutional designers should ask themselves: - Should the constitution append amendments sequentially to the end of the text? - Should it embed amendments directly into the existing text, with notations about what has been modified and how? - Should it instead insert amendments into the text without indicating at all that any alteration has occurred? The book examines the 3 major models of amendment codification - the appendative, the integrative, and the invisible models - and also shows how some jurisdictions have innovated alternative forms of amendment codification that combine elements of more than 1 model in a unique hybridisation driven by history, law, and politics. Constitutional designers rarely consider where in the constitution to codify amendments once they are ratified. Yet this choice is pivotal to the operation of any constitution. This groundbreaking book shows why the placement of constitutional amendments goes well beyond mere aesthetics. It influences how and whether a people remembers its past, how the constitutional text will be interpreted and by whom, and whether the constitution will be easily accessible to the governed. A global tour of the high stakes of constitution-making, this book features 18 diverse and outstanding scholars from around the world - across Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, and Europe - raising new questions, opening our eyes to new streams of research, and uncovering new possibilities for constitutional design"--
Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change written by Xenophon Contiades and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-11 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparative constitutional change has recently emerged as a distinct field in the study of constitutional law. It is the study of the way constitutions change through formal and informal mechanisms, including amendment, replacement, total and partial revision, adaptation, interpretation, disuse and revolution. The shift of focus from constitution-making to constitutional change makes sense, since amendment power is the means used to refurbish constitutions in established democracies, enhance their adaptation capacity and boost their efficacy. Adversely, constitutional change is also the basic apparatus used to orchestrate constitutional backslide as the erosion of liberal democracies and democratic regression is increasingly affected through legal channels of constitutional change. Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change provides a comprehensive reference tool for all those working in the field and a thorough landscape of all theoretical and practical aspects of the topic. Coherence from this aspect does not suggest a common view, as the chapters address different topics, but reinforces the establishment of comparative constitutional change as a distinct field. The book brings together the most respected scholars working in the field, and presents a genuine contribution to comparative constitutional studies, comparative public law, political science and constitutional history.
