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- Title
Globalization of Constitutional Law through comparative Constitution-making.
- Authors
Venter, Francois
- Abstract
The ebb and flow of constitutional ideas since the late 18th Century have resulted in a globally shared vocabulary of constitutional structures, rights, principles and values. This convergence of constitutional language has increased steadily through the various waves of constitution-making the world has seen since the late 18th Century. Constitutional law evolved, and still operates on the assumption that the state is sovereign and that it exists for the benefit and protection of its "nation". Constitutional rights language in recently drafted constitutions tends toward similarity, although the actual meaning of similar terms may vary in different jurisdictions. The mechanism of prescribing a set of binding principles to the authors of a new constitution has been employed successfully in a few cases. These principles of constitution-making essentially reflect what might be described as the essence of contemporary constitutionalism. A foundational Leitmotiv for constitution-making is to be found in the notion of global values, the most pre-eminent of which is human dignity. An exact definition of dignity is elusive, but it is gaining ascendency in the 21st Century thinking on the moral foundations of constitutionalism and therefore of written constitutions and their interpretation. Global constitutionalism is not leading the world in the direction of the drafting of constitutions that are all the same. Comparative constitution-making has however become an essential characteristic of the process of drafting (and revision) of constitutions.
- Subjects
CONSTITUTIONALISM; GLOBALIZATION; INTERNATIONAL relations; CIVIL rights; INTERNATIONAL markets
- Publication
Law & Politics in Africa, Asia & Latin America / Verfassung und Recht in Übersee (VRÜ), 2008, Vol 41, Issue 1, p16
- ISSN
0506-7286
- Publication type
Article