Law Commons^™

Article V: Changing Dimensions In Constitutional Change, Francis H. Heller

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To anyone raised under the Constitution of the United States, that document's declaration that it is "the supreme law of the land" may appear as a commonplace assertion. In some other nations the constitution is not viewed as law, but is seen as a primarily political document. In fact, some foreign constitutions are formally proclaimed to be "political constitutions." The writers of the American Constitution were well aware that they were engaged in fashioning an arrangement for the exercise of political functions and the peaceful adjustment of political conflict. And, however much validity there continues to be to de Tocqueville's …