
Constitutional Interpretation
Edward Elgar Publishing
Will be published approx. on 28. December 2025
Book
Hardback
614 pages
978-1-80037-173-6 (ISBN)
Description
This insightful Handbook argues that constitutional interpretation has two core elements: constitutional text and constitutional context. Through a combination of thematic chapters and country-specific case studies, the Handbook analyses commitments found in preambles, epilogues, and other constitutional elements, as well as the overall constitutional structure.
Constitutional Interpretation features contributions from a global team of experts, who discuss mission-driven constitutions through topics such as plurinationalism, transitional contexts, social transformation, post-authoritarianism, and defensive anti-authoritarianism. A variety of global case studies to support claims about the phenomenology of constitutional interpretation that are not tied to any specific country, while acknowledging that constitutional interpretation varies significantly across legal and political contexts.
This comprehensive Handbook is a valuable resource for students and scholars of comparative and constitutional law. Its broad scope will also appeal to those seeking a new perspective on regional human rights law.
Constitutional Interpretation features contributions from a global team of experts, who discuss mission-driven constitutions through topics such as plurinationalism, transitional contexts, social transformation, post-authoritarianism, and defensive anti-authoritarianism. A variety of global case studies to support claims about the phenomenology of constitutional interpretation that are not tied to any specific country, while acknowledging that constitutional interpretation varies significantly across legal and political contexts.
This comprehensive Handbook is a valuable resource for students and scholars of comparative and constitutional law. Its broad scope will also appeal to those seeking a new perspective on regional human rights law.
Reviews / Votes
'By combining contributions from highly respected judges with an academic tradition and specialists who are authorities in their field, this Research Handbook is unique in offering, in a succinct and powerful way, a structured overview that allows us to understand not only how constitutions are interpreted in different countries on all continents where constitutional judges exercise significant power, but also the spirit that gives life and distinctiveness to the methods of constitutional interpretation in each jurisdiction. as well as the way in which these methods support constitutional judges, within the respect of legal parameters, in making decisions that inevitably have high political impact.' -- Manuel Jose Cepeda, Former President, Constitutional Court of Colombia 'This is a must-read Research Handbook for all jurists searching for constitutional interpretive strategies against the rise of populism and authoritarianism in diversified contexts.' -- Wen-Chen Chang, National Taiwan University College of Law 'Legal work all comes down to interpretation. This impressive volume draws together a global body of comparative work, including from a strong bench of the world's most respected apex judges, to offer an unparalleled guide to this most central of a court's tasks in our challenging times.' -- Michaela Hailbronner, University of Muenster, Germany 'The Research Handbook will be an essential resource to understand the varying modes of constitutional interpretation in the contemporary context. The editors' introduction defines a framework for the chapters , written by leading scholars from around the world, which collectively illustrate both continuities with older modalities (in U.S. and European interpretation) and newer elements, with high courts in most countries declining to follow "originalist" approaches to interpretation and treating the U.S. as an outlier. The book as a whole illustrates how transformative purposes and comparative constitutional and international legal norms play important roles in many of the high courts around the world that decide constitutional cases.' -- Vicki Jackson, Harvard Law School, USA 'Constitutional interpretation engaged in by apex courts has been the focal mainstay of U.S. constitutional theory for at least a century and a half. Till quite recently, this was not the case for other jurisdictions, where the discipline of constitutional theory focused on other, typically structural, issues. While there have been other comparative studies of this important phenomenon - typically undertaken among groups of common law and civil law jurisdictions - this book represents the most comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis of constitutional interpretation in the field of comparative constitutional studies till date. What makes the volume distinctive is that it comprises analyses not just by leading scholars of comparative constitutional studies - who provide compelling accounts while closely examining case law from multiple jurisdictions - but also by serving or former justices of the highest courts of 11 nations, cutting across the categories of Global North/Global South/common law/civil law. The magisterial introduction by the editors emphasises the importance of "constitutional text" and "constitutional context" and identifies several critical concepts that are revealed in the volume as a whole. This sets the stage for the rich fare in the pages that follow, which is, by turns, original, enlightening and provocative. The volume is sure to become a standard reference text while also generating debate and further scholarship on a phenomenon that will continue to be relevant as long as judiciaries remain independent and vibrant actors on the constitutional landscape.' -- Arun K. Thiruvengadam, National Law School of India University, India 'This Handbook is a major contribution to global scholarship on constitutional interpretation. The volume combines contributions on selected questions, written by scholars, with essays on discrete jurisdictions, contributed by leading judicial figures. Each is valuable on its own but, when read together, they provide a powerful and nuanced set of insights into constitutional interpretation that transcends traditional boundaries of geography and legal tradition.' -- Adrienne Stone, Melbourne Law School, AustraliaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80037-173-6 (9781800371736)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Sujit Choudhry, Principal, Circle Barristers, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Catherine O'Regan, Faculty of Law and Director, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford, UK and Carlos Bernal-Pulido, Professor of Law, University of Dayton, USA and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Content
Contents
1 Constitutional interpretation in the Third Wave: the importance of text and context 1
Sujit Choudhry, Catherine O'Regan and Carlos Bernal
2 Text, history, and precedent 43
Jamal Greene and Yvonne Tew
3 The living constitution in collaborative context 59
Aileen Kavanagh
4 Purposive/teleological interpretation 83
Christoph Moellers
5 Judicial usages of preambles in constitutional interpretation: from
rhetorical flourish to meta-constitutional law 99
Jaclyn L Neo and Diego Werneck Arguelhes
6 Directive principles 119
Lael K Weis
7 Interpreting unconstitutional constitutional amendments 145
Rehan Abeyratne and Yaniv Roznai
8 Interpreting constitutions and statutes: convergence more than specificity,
whether in common law or civil law 169
Stephane Beaulac
9 The role of legal professional culture in constitutional interpretation 191
Theunis Roux
10 Federalism 207
Karl Koessler
11 Aversive constitutionalism 227
Tarunabh Khaitan
12 Constitutionalism and peacemaking: comparative perspectives 249
Ruti Teitel
13 Social transformation 269
Gautam Bhatia
14 Popular constitutionalism 289
Sergio Verdugo
15 Defensive constitutional interpretation under authoritarianism 309
Tom Gerald Daly
16 The role of comparative materials in constitutional interpretation 335
Cheryl Saunders
17 The role of the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights on
constitutional interpretation in Africa 355
Adem K Abebe and Charles Manga Fombad
18 The American Convention on Human Rights in Latin American domestic courts 375
Jorge Contesse
19 Constitutional interpretation in European countries and the influence of the
European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union 393
Colm O'Cinneide
20 Constitutional interpretation and international human rights law 415
Dire Tladi and James Fowkes
21 International humanitarian law and international criminal law in
constitutional interpretation 439
Hannah Woolaver
22 International refugee law and constitutional interpretation 459
Daniel Ghezelbash
23 International economic law in constitutional interpretation 485
David Schneiderman
24 Constitutional interpretation in Australia 503
James Edelman
25 Constitutional interpretation in Brazil 509
Luis Roberto Barroso
26 Constitutional interpretation in Canada: watering living trees and
Canadian values 515
Rosalie Silberman Abella
27 Constitutional interpretation in Colombia 523
Carlos Bernal
28 Constitutional interpretation: the German Federal Constitutional Court 531
Gertrude Luebbe-Wolff
29 Constitutional interpretation in India 543
Dhananjaya Chandrachud
30 The 2010 Constitution of Kenya and its interpretation: a personal footnote 549
Willy Mutunga
31 Poland 561
Lech Garlicki
32 Constitutional interpretation in South Africa 569
Catherine O'Regan
33 Constitutional interpretation: the UK experience 575
Brenda Hale
34 Constitutional interpretation in the United States 581
Nancy Gertner
1 Constitutional interpretation in the Third Wave: the importance of text and context 1
Sujit Choudhry, Catherine O'Regan and Carlos Bernal
2 Text, history, and precedent 43
Jamal Greene and Yvonne Tew
3 The living constitution in collaborative context 59
Aileen Kavanagh
4 Purposive/teleological interpretation 83
Christoph Moellers
5 Judicial usages of preambles in constitutional interpretation: from
rhetorical flourish to meta-constitutional law 99
Jaclyn L Neo and Diego Werneck Arguelhes
6 Directive principles 119
Lael K Weis
7 Interpreting unconstitutional constitutional amendments 145
Rehan Abeyratne and Yaniv Roznai
8 Interpreting constitutions and statutes: convergence more than specificity,
whether in common law or civil law 169
Stephane Beaulac
9 The role of legal professional culture in constitutional interpretation 191
Theunis Roux
10 Federalism 207
Karl Koessler
11 Aversive constitutionalism 227
Tarunabh Khaitan
12 Constitutionalism and peacemaking: comparative perspectives 249
Ruti Teitel
13 Social transformation 269
Gautam Bhatia
14 Popular constitutionalism 289
Sergio Verdugo
15 Defensive constitutional interpretation under authoritarianism 309
Tom Gerald Daly
16 The role of comparative materials in constitutional interpretation 335
Cheryl Saunders
17 The role of the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights on
constitutional interpretation in Africa 355
Adem K Abebe and Charles Manga Fombad
18 The American Convention on Human Rights in Latin American domestic courts 375
Jorge Contesse
19 Constitutional interpretation in European countries and the influence of the
European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union 393
Colm O'Cinneide
20 Constitutional interpretation and international human rights law 415
Dire Tladi and James Fowkes
21 International humanitarian law and international criminal law in
constitutional interpretation 439
Hannah Woolaver
22 International refugee law and constitutional interpretation 459
Daniel Ghezelbash
23 International economic law in constitutional interpretation 485
David Schneiderman
24 Constitutional interpretation in Australia 503
James Edelman
25 Constitutional interpretation in Brazil 509
Luis Roberto Barroso
26 Constitutional interpretation in Canada: watering living trees and
Canadian values 515
Rosalie Silberman Abella
27 Constitutional interpretation in Colombia 523
Carlos Bernal
28 Constitutional interpretation: the German Federal Constitutional Court 531
Gertrude Luebbe-Wolff
29 Constitutional interpretation in India 543
Dhananjaya Chandrachud
30 The 2010 Constitution of Kenya and its interpretation: a personal footnote 549
Willy Mutunga
31 Poland 561
Lech Garlicki
32 Constitutional interpretation in South Africa 569
Catherine O'Regan
33 Constitutional interpretation: the UK experience 575
Brenda Hale
34 Constitutional interpretation in the United States 581
Nancy Gertner