Constitutional Law Commons^™

Devolution Or Deconstruction Czecho-Slovak Style, Eric Stein

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay is a part of a broader study entitled "Post-communist Constitution-making: Confessions of a Comparatist" which focuses on Czechoslovakia.

The Canadian Constitution And The Dangers Of Establishment, Richard Kay

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Constitution Of Responsibility, Steven G. Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

The American legal academy is decidedly nationalistic. Comparative law tends to be a minor part of the law school curriculum, and discussion of alternative legal systems almost never finds its way into mainstream courses like constitutional law. As a result, much that is distinctive about American constitutionalism, and the American legal system in general, is often taken for granted. The federal Constitution, for example, says much about governmental structure, power, and limitations, but virtually nothing about the obligations of citizens to one another or to the government.' This feature of the American Constitution starkly sets it apart from many of …

Foreword: O Canada, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Publications

This forward, written ten years after the adoption of the Constitution of Canada, draws sharp comparisons between Canada’s constitution and the United States’ original governing document, the Articles of Confederation.

An Emerging Conception Of Fundamental Rights In Contemporary Russia, Mary Holland

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article explores the emergence of a new conception of fundamental rights in post-Soviet Russia, marking a significant shift from a totalitarian regime to a more democratic, rule-of-law-based system. This transformation is evident through the adoption of key legal documents: the Declaration of Rights and Freedoms, the Conception of Judicial Reform, and the Law on the Constitutional Court. These reforms reflect a rejection of the Soviet legal tradition, alignment with international human rights standards, and a re-emergence of pre-revolutionary Russian legal ideals. The article argues that these developments signify a fundamental change in the Russian legal framework, emphasizing individual rights …

Lessons Of Founding Fatherhood, Neal Devins

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

JAPANESE CRIMINAL JUSTICE

By A. Didrick Castberg

New York, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990. Pp. 153. $42.95.

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

By David P. Forsythe

Lexington, Massachusetts; Lexington Books, 1991. Pp. 209.$34.00.

FEDERAL COURTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PARADIGM By Kenneth C. Randall

Durham, North Carolina; Duke University Press. 1990. Pp. 295. $45.00.

ROMAN LAW AND COMPARATIVE LAW

By Alan Watson

Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1991. Pp. 328. $50.00

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND FOREIGN POLICY

By Victoria Marie Kraft

New York, New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Pp. 185. $45.00.

Searching For A New Constitutional Model For East-Central Europe, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

The purpose of this Article is to review the constitutional traditions of the East-Central European states with emphasis on their liberal and democratic attributes. The Article will also examine the common core of the socialist constitutions and analyze the current constitutional development in the Soviet Union and in the two Central European countries most advanced in the process of constitutional transformation, Poland and Hungary. Finally, it will supply observations on the process of forming a new constitutional model in East-Central Europe.

The Japanese International Law 'Revolution': International Human Rights Law And Its Impact In Japan, Kenneth L. Port

Faculty Scholarship

Some observers have argued that because of a lack of enforcement powers, international law has relatively little impact on the conduct of nations and, in fact, may not be "law" at all. Others have inquired whether legal norms which underlie international human rights law have any influence on the domestic law of signatory nations. This article argues that international law can profoundly influence the development of the domestic laws of nations regardless of the lack of coercive enforcement powers. This point becomes clear through a consideration of Japan's experience in adopting and internalizing international law norms.

The Unification Of Germany And International Law, Frans G. Von Der Dunk, Peter H. Kooijmans

Michigan Journal of International Law

What role these rights and obligations could have played is the central theme of this article. However, in view of the enormous complexity of the problems involved, this article can do no more than provide a general overview. Sections II through VII will first sketch the outlines of the rights and obligations confronting the two German States before unification. Section VIII will compare those outlines to the actual political outcome of the unification process. The former six Sections will explore a number of different contexts in which legal rights and obligations could have been found.

German Unification: Constitutional And International Implications, Albrecht Randelzhofer

Michigan Journal of International Law

A discussion about the legal problems of German unification, taking into account the realms of German constitutional law, public international law, and the law of the European Communities.

Comparative Constitutional Fundamentals, Richard Kay

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The Exclusionary Rule And Confession Evidence: Some Perspectives On Evolving Practices And Policies In The United States And England And Wales, Mark Berger

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Compromising On Abortion, Daniel O. Conkle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

German Constitutionalism: A Prolegomenon, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

This essay sets out to describe the main features of German constitutionalism, and it concludes by drawing some comparisons with the United States. The term "constitutionalism," however, suffers from the vice of vagueness. As Gerhard Casper has written, "it is neither clearly prescriptive nor clearly descriptive; its contours are difficult to discern; its historical roots are diverse and uncertain." Any attempt to explore the contours and roots of German constitutionalism in the global sense suggested by Casper's comment would be a major undertaking extending far beyond the limits of this study. As used here the term shall be limited to …

Confessions And The Right To Silence In Japan, Daniel H. Foote

Articles

In several highly-publicized recent cases in Japan, individuals convicted of murder and sentenced to death were acquitted in retrials obtained after decades on death row. These so-called "death penalty retrial cases'" generated great controversy and considerable reflection about the criminal justice system in Japan. A central, substantive issue presented by these cases relates to the procurement and use of confessions; each of these cases-and several other major recent Japanese cases in which defendants have been acquitted following bitterly contested trials-turned on the validity of repudiated confessions.

Consequently, much recent commentary has focussed on conf essions and related issues. Not surprisingly, …

The Jurisprudence Of Constitutional Law: The Philosophical Origins And Differences Between The Western Liberal And Soviet Communist State Law, Ziyad Motala

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

This article will examine the philosophical notions of a constitution and a state system from a historical perspective. It will highlight the different philosophical bases of state law and the purpose the constitution is meant to serve under the two divergent orders. The approach will be descriptive and comparative. The purpose of this work is not (in the words of Christopher Osakwe) to pass off a political opinion about the desirability of one or the other legal systems. Instead, the essential focus will be to examine the jurisprudence underlying the constitutional systems, and the different uses that constitutions perform in …

The French Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And Citizen And The American Constitutional Development, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

The thorough examination of the influence of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen on constitutions has long awaited proper implementation. The importance of the French act has never been questioned but its multi-sided impact has not been satisfactorily evaluated.

With respect to the American Constitution, this problem merits a specially comprehensive study. Although the American and French politics at the end of the eighteenth century were carefully examined, the links between the constitutional developments of both countries has never been researched exhaustively. The reasons seem to be threefold. First, with exception of the American Constitution, the …

West German Constitutionalism And Church-State Relations, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

The complex structure of church-state relations in West Germany arises out of numerous provisions of the Basic Law that combine features of both separation and accommodation. The Basic Law's separationist features are expressed in various guarantees of religious liberty and in the ban on the establishment of a state church. Its accommodationist features appear in constitutional provisions on religious education as well as in articles, taken over from the Weimar Constitution, that confer upon the established churches a special juridical status enjoyed by no other nongovernmental entity. The arguably diverse goals of the religion clauses are difficult to reconcile, creating …

Inventing Judicial Review: Israel And America, Robert A. Burt

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Perspective On The United States And Chinese Constitutions, Pu Zengyuan

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of U.S.-Canadian Excess Condemnation, Expropriation And Property Taking: A Valid Form Of Governmental Recoupment Of Added Value, Andrew Bechard

In the Public Interest

No abstract provided.

The Beginning Of The Constitutional Era: A Bicentennial Comparative Study Of The American And French Constitutions, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

This article is intended only to be introductory. The author is quite aware that the period surrounding the creation of the American Constitution has been profoundly studied; thorough analysis has been provided concerning both the origin and historical development of the American Constitution, as well as the intellectual background of the "founding generation." Characteristically, these studies have focused on the "American constitutional tradition," which means that they have been limited to little more than two centuries of colonial experience.

This essay follows a different vein of inquiry. The author's purpose is not to add another article to the numerous works …

The Beginning Of The Constitutional Era: A Bicentennial Comparative Study Of The American And French Constitutions, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article is intended only to be introductory. The author is quite aware that the period surrounding the creation of the American Constitution has been profoundly studied; thorough analysis has been provided concerning both the origin and historical development of the American Constitution, as well as the intellectual background of the "founding generation." Characteristically, these studies have focused on the "American constitutional tradition," which means that they have been limited to little more than two centuries of colonial experience. This essay follows a different vein of inquiry. The author's purpose is not to add another article to the numerous works …

Models For A Gorbachev Constitution Of The U.S.S.R., John N. Hazard

Michigan Journal of International Law

Western Sovietologists were startled when Secretary General Mikhail S. Gorbachev set his craftsmen to work in the Summer of 1988 to prepare a revised structure for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ("U.S.S.R."). While some hint of what was to come had been given by publications prior to the 19th Communist Party Conference, and while some of these appeared in the theses to be debated at the Conference, Westerners expected little more than a call from the tribune for change in attitudes. Basic State structures established by Leonid Brezhnev in his 1977 Constitution had not previously been questioned. Critics levelled …

Canada's Roe: The Canadian Abortion Decision And Its Implications For American Constitutional Law And Theory, Daniel O. Conkle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law (Kempo), Jutta Brunnée

Dalhousie Law Journal

In 1976 Carl Heymanns Verlag published the first volume of a series on Japanese law. A recent addition to this collection covering areas as diverse as civil and criminal procedure, labor law, nuclear energy law, and international law, is Miyazawa Toshiyoshi's (1899-1976) book on constitutional law. With this German translation, Robert Heuser and Yamasaki Kazuaki provide their readers with the first systematical overview on Japanese constitutional law in a western language.

Introduction, Monroe E. Price

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Protection Of Freedom Of Religion, Expression, And Association In Canada And The United States: A Comparative Analysis, Robert A. Sedler

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Constitutionalism In Asia: Asian Views Of The American Influence, Lawrence W. Beer

Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies

No abstract provided.