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The Language of Liberal Constitutionalism
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The Language of Liberal Constitutionalism
By
Howard Schweber
Description
This book explores two basic questions
regarding constitutional theory. First, in view of a commitment to
democratic self-rule and widespread disagreement on questions of
value, how is the creation of a legitimate constitutional regime
possible? Second, what must be true about a constitution if the
regime that it supports is to retain its claim to legitimacy? Howard
Schweber shows that the answers to these questions appear in a theory
of constitutional language that combines democratic theory with
constitutional philosophy. The creation of a legitimate
constitutional regime depends on a shared commitment to a particular
and specialized form of language. Out of this simple observation,
Schweber develops arguments about the characteristics of
constitutional language, the necessary differences between
constitutional language and the language of ordinary law or morality,
as well as the authority of officials such as judges to engage in
constitutional review of laws.
• Situates the problem of
constitutional democracy in the setting of classic works of Bodin,
Hobbes, and Locke • Combines constitutional, legal, and
democratic theory • Provides different and novel ways of
thinking about familiar debates about constitutional interpretation
Contents
1. The search for sovereignty: law,
language, and the beginning of modern constitutionalism; 2. Consent
how?: challenges to Lockean constitutionalism; 3. Constitutional
language and the possibility of binding commitments; 4. Consent to
what? Exclusivity and completeness in constitutional and legal
language; 5. The question of substance: morality, law, and
constitutional legitimacy; 6. Conclusion: the defense of
constitutional language.
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