The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781509959112
Category : Constitutional amendments
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
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.

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781509959112
Category : Constitutional amendments
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
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.

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 1509959084
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
This book blends deep engagement with constitutional theory and close attention to real-life political practice to explore how the choices political actors make in codifying constitutional amendments exert consequences on the operation of the constitution in relation to democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. It answers the following questions: - Should constitutions append amendments sequentially to the end of the text? - Should they embed amendments directly into the existing text, with notations about what has been modified and how? - Should constitutions 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 this question of central significance to the operation of constitutions: where in the constitution to codify amendments once they are ratified? This innovative book is the first to explain why the placement of constitutional amendments concerns more than mere aesthetics. It involves 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 constitutional design in every region of the world, this book features 18 contributors 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.

Perfecting the Constitution

Perfecting the Constitution PDF Author: Darren Patrick Guerra
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739183869
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Get Book

Book Description
He who can change the Constitution controls the Constitution. So who does control the Constitution? The answer has always been: “the people.” The people control the Constitution via the Article V amending process outlined in the Constitution itself. Changes can only be made through Article V and its formal procedures. Article V has always provided a means of perfecting the Constitution in an explicit, democratically authentic, prudent, and deliberative manner. In addition to changing the Constitution Article V also allowed the people to perfect and preserve their Constitution at the same time. In recent years Article V has come under attack by influential legal scholars who criticize it for being too difficult, undemocratic, and too formal. Such scholars advocate for ignoring Article V in favor of elite adaptation of the Constitution or popular amendment through national referendums. In making their case, critics also assume that Article V is an unimportant and expendable part of the Constitutional structure. One notable scholar called the Constitution “imbecilic” because of Article V. This book shows that, to the contrary, Article V is a unique and powerful extension of the American tradition of written constitutionalism. It was a logical extension of American constitutional development and it was a powerful tool used by the Federalists to argue for ratification of the new Constitution. Since then it has served as a means of “perfecting” the US Constitution for over 200 years via a wide range of amendments. Contrary to contemporary critics, the historical evidence shows Article V to be a vital element in the Constitutional architecture, not an expendable or ancillary piece. This book defends Article V against critics by showing that it is neither too difficult, undemocratic, nor too formal. Furthermore, a positive case is made that Article V remains the most clear and powerful way to register the sovereign desires of the American public with regard to alterations of their fundamental law. In the end, Article V is an essential bulwark to maintaining a written Constitution that secures the rights of the people against both elites and themselves.

Constitutional Amendments

Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190640499
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
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.

The Constitution of the United States of America as Amended

The Constitution of the United States of America as Amended PDF Author: United States
Publisher: United States House of Representatives
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 92

Get Book

Book Description
219 years ago you were given the right to practice the religion of your choice. 219 years ago you were given the right to say what you wanted without persecution. 219 years ago it was written that your house and property were secure from unreasonable search and seizure. 219 years ago you were given the right to a public trial. 219 years ago, fifty-five men you will never know sat in a sweltering hot room as they fought and argued for you. 219 years ago you were given your rights as a citizen of the United States. This fall, as we return again to the ballot box to decide the course of our country' s congressional and state leadership, every voter must find their way back to that room in Philadelphia. Welcome Books is proud to provide a map. The Constitution of The United States of America, inscribed and illustrated by the master calligrapher Sam Fink, brings to life the issues underlying the triumphs of this abiding document. Originally published in pen and ink for Random House in 1987, Sam has, at the request of Welcome Books, gone back to the original black-and-white art and painted it entirely, creating a full-color masterpiece. Each amendment, each article, each word so thoughtfully placed in the Constitution has been given Sam' s profound touch. With a powerful intelligence and a wonderful sense of humor, he has provided us with an entry point, allowing us to read this essential document better, more clearly. Welcome Books is honored to present a full-color limited edition of Sam' s startling work as well as a trade edition, exquisitely designed and produced - matching in its manufacture the stunning quality of Sam' s ambition and thegravitas and significance of the original document. The Constitution of The United States of America is the document we must read again and again. There is no more important document in our country. It is the document we must have an intimate knowledge of. It is the document that we must never forget. 219 years ago, you were entrusted with a living document. Have you kept it safe? To begin, we must read it. This, Sam, in his direct and unadorned way, respectful and loving, helps us do.

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments

The Architecture of Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509959106
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Get Book

Book Description
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.

New York State Constitution Annotated

New York State Constitution Annotated PDF Author: New York (State)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Constitutional conventions
Languages : en
Pages : 644

Get Book

Book Description


Amendments to the Constitution and Proposed Statutes : with Arguments Respecting the Same

Amendments to the Constitution and Proposed Statutes : with Arguments Respecting the Same PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Get Book

Book Description


Six Amendments

Six Amendments PDF Author: Justice John Paul Stevens
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316373745
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book

Book Description
For the first time ever, a retired Supreme Court Justice offers a manifesto on how the Constitution needs to change. By the time of his retirement in June 2010, John Paul Stevens had become the second longest serving Justice in the history of the Supreme Court. Now he draws upon his more than three decades on the Court, during which he was involved with many of the defining decisions of the modern era, to offer a book like none other. Six Amendments is an absolutely unprecedented call to arms, detailing six specific ways in which the Constitution should be amended in order to protect our democracy and the safety and wellbeing of American citizens. Written with the same precision and elegance that made Stevens's own Court opinions legendary for their clarity as well as logic, Six Amendments is a remarkable work, both because of its unprecedented nature and, in an age of partisan ferocity, its inarguable common sense.

Constitutional Amendments

Constitutional Amendments PDF Author: Richard Albert (Law professor)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780190640514
Category : Constitutional amendments
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book

Book Description
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. 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 amendment?