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Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > Constitutional & administrative law > General
The separation of powers is an idea with ancient origins, but nowadays it is often relegated to legal doctrine, public philosophy, or the history of ideas. Yet the concept is often evoked in debates on the "war " on terrorism, the use of emergency powers, or constitutional reform. So it is surprising that there have been few attempts to place the study of the separation of powers on a social scientific footing. To that end, this book makes a bold conjecture. It argues that the separation of powers emerged with the spread of literacy, became a central part of constitutional thought in the context of the Gutenberg revolution, and faces unprecedented challenges in our current era of electronic communication. The separation of powers is linked to social-cognitive changes associated with evolving media of communication. The essence of the argument is that constitutional states use texts to coordinate collective action, and they do so by creating governmental agencies with specific jurisdiction and competence over distinct types of power. The first, and most familiar to students of political science since Max Weber, is the power to make decisions backed by legally sanctioned coercion. Cameron highlights two other forms of power: the deliberative power to make procedurally legitimate laws, and the judicial power to interpret and apply laws in particular circumstances. The division of government into three such branches enables state officials and citizens to use written texts-legal codes and documents, including constitutions-along with unwritten rules and conventions to coordinate their activities on larger scales and over longer time horizons. Cameron argues that constitutional states are not weaker because their powers are divided. They are often stronger because they solve collective action problems rooted in speech and communication. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the separation of powers, its origin, evolution, and consequences.
It has long been a fundamental norm of civilized legal systems that the administration of justice is conducted in full view of the public. In this topical new study, Joseph Jaconelli explores these issues and offers a critical examination of the reasons why justice is required to be carried out in the open, the values served by open justice, and the tensions that exist between it and the pressures of modern, mass media.
What institutional arrangements should a well-functioning
constitutional democracy have?
The two years since publication of the first edition of The Law of EU External Relations: Cases, Materials, and Commentary on the EU as an International Actor have been characterized by the large amount of case law on the new provisions on external relations, which have found their way into the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, there have been important changes in EU secondary law on external relations as a consequence of these changes to the Lisbon Treaty. In this second edition, new case law and legislative developments are critically discussed and analysed in this comprehensive collection of EU Treaty law. Combining chapters on the general basis of the Union's external action and its relation to international law, with chapters which further explore the law and practice of the EU in the specialized fields of external action, this book presents the law of EU external relations in a concise and accessible manner for students, practitioners, and academics in the field. Topics include the common commercial policy, development cooperation, cooperation with third countries, humanitarian aid, the enlargement and neighbourhood policies, the external environmental policy, and the common foreign and security policy. Carefully selected primary documents are accompanied with analytic commentary on the issues they raise and their significance for the overall structure of EU external relations law. The primary materials selected include many important legal documents that are hard to find elsewhere but give a vital insight into the operation of EU external relations law in practice.
The framers of the Constitution chose their words carefully when they wrote of a more perfect union-not absolutely perfect, but with room for improvement. Indeed, we no longer operate under the same Constitution as that ratified in 1788, or even the one completed by the Bill of Rights in 1791-because we are no longer the same nation. In The Revolutionary Constitution, David J. Bodenhamer provides a comprehensive new look at America's basic law, integrating the latest legal scholarship with historical context to highlight how it has evolved over time. The Constitution, he notes, was the product of the first modern revolution, and revolutions are, by definition, moments when the past shifts toward an unfamiliar future, one radically different from what was foreseen only a brief time earlier. In seeking to balance power and liberty, the framers established a structure that would allow future generations to continually readjust the scale. Bodenhamer explores this dynamic through seven major constitutional themes: federalism, balance of powers, property, representation, equality, rights, and security. With each, he takes a historical approach, following their changes over time. For example, the framers wrote multiple protections for property rights into the Constitution in response to actions by state governments after the Revolution. But twentieth-century courts-and Congress-redefined property rights through measures such as zoning and the designation of historical landmarks (diminishing their commercial value) in response to the needs of a modern economy. The framers anticipated just such a future reworking of their own compromises between liberty and power. With up-to-the-minute legal expertise and a broad grasp of the social and political context, this book is a tour de force of Constitutional history and analysis.
Ever since Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. used "imperial presidency" as a book title, the term has become central to the debate about the balance of power in the U.S. government. Since the presidency of George W. Bush, when advocates of executive power such as Dick Cheney gained ascendancy, the argument has blazed hotter than ever. Many argue the Constitution itself is in grave danger. What is to be done? The answer, according to legal scholars Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule, is nothing. In The Executive Unbound, they provide a bracing challenge to conventional wisdom, arguing that a strong presidency is inevitable in the modern world. Most scholars, they note, object to today's level of executive power because it varies so dramatically from the vision of the framers of the Constitution. But Posner and Vermeule find fault with James Madison's premises. Like an ideal market, they write, Madison's separation of powers has no central director, but it lacks the price system which gives an economy its structure; there is nothing in checks and balances that intrinsically generates order or promotes positive arrangements. In fact, the greater complexity of the modern world produces a concentration of power, particularly in the White House. The authors chart the rise of executive authority, noting that among strong presidents only Nixon has come in for severe criticism, leading to legislation which was designed to limit the presidency, yet which failed to do so. Political, cultural and social restraints, they argue, have been more effective in preventing dictatorship than any law. The executive-centered state tends to generate political checks that substitute for the legal checks of the Madisonian constitution. Piety toward the founders and a historic fear of tyranny have been powerful forces in American political thinking. Posner and Vermeule confront them both in this startlingly original contribution.
New Frontiers of State Constitutional Law: Dual Enforcement of
Norms, edited by James A. Gardner and Jim Rossi, projects a new
vision for state constitutional law through a collection of essays
that reflect a shift in legal thinking about the relationship
between national and subnational systems of constitutional law.
This work charts a new course that gives voice to a recent, rising
chorus of dissent among scholars and judges, namely that national
and subnational systems of constitutional law cannot be adequately
understood in isolation from one another. To the contrary, they are
linked in a web of jurisprudential, social, and pragmatic
connections structured by the American system of federalism. Here,
multiple layers of constitutional law function together in a
complex, interdependent process in which constitutional norms are
developed, articulated, and enforced.
Political theory is traditionally concerned with the justification and limits of state power. It asks: Can states legitimately direct and coerce non-consenting subjects? If they can, what limits, if any, constrain sovereign power? Public law is concerned with the justification and limits of judicial power. It asks: On what grounds can judges 'read down' or 'read in' statutory language against the apparent intention of the legislature? What limits, if any, are appropriate to these exercises of judicial power? This book develops an original constitutional theory of political authority that yields novel answers to both sets of questions. Fox-Decent argues that the state is a fiduciary of its people, and that this fiduciary relationship grounds the state's authority to announce and enforce law. The fiduciary state is conceived of as a public agent of necessity charged with guaranteeing a regime of secure and equal freedom. Whereas the social contract tradition struggles to ground authority on consent, the fiduciary theory explains authority with reference to the state's fiduciary obligation to respect legal principles constitutive of the rule of law. This obligation arises from the state's possession of irresistible public powers. The author begins with a discussion of Hobbes's conception of legality and the problem of discretionary power in administrative law. Drawing on Kant, he sketches a theory of fiduciary relations, and develops the argument through three parts. Part I shows that it is possible for the state to stand in a public fiduciary relationship to its people through a discussion of Crown-Native fiduciary relations recognized by Canadian courts. Part II sets out the theoretical underpinnings of the fiduciary theory of the state. Part III explores the implications of the fiduciary theory for administrative law and common law constitutionalism. The final chapter situates the theory within a broader philosophical discussion of the rule of law.
Now in its sixth edition with coverage of major Supreme Court decisions through the end of the 2013-2014 term, this book remains a key source for students, professors, and citizens seeking balanced, up-to-date information on the Constitution, its amendments, and how they have been interpreted. A document that is well past two centuries old, the U.S. Constitution remains as relevant and important today as during the time of our country's founding. Now in its sixth edition, this single-volume work offers a fair, non-partisan treatment of one of the most important documents in American history. The book begins with introductory background information on the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and then presents a clause-by-clause explanation of the Constitution from the preamble through all of its amendments, addressing how each has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court and other institutions throughout U.S. history. This fully updated edition of A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments incorporates numerous new developments in the four years since the previous edition, including the appointments of new Supreme Court justices, impactful cases involving First Amendment rights for students, the Affordable Care Act, National Security Agency (NSA) data gathering, voting rights, campaign finance law, DNA sampling, and the ongoing battle over gay rights. As with the previous editions, John R. Vile provides a balanced and thorough treatment that identifies key Supreme Court decisions and other interpretations of the document while abstaining from unnecessarily complex and confusing explanations. Provides an accessible and informative introduction to the creation, meaning, and continuing role of the Constitution that is suited for high school students, undergraduate audiences, law students and researchers, reference librarians, and interested citizens who want to understand the Constitution and its amendments Presents balanced treatments of all key constitutional provisions and up-to-date information on how key U.S. Supreme Court decisions have interpreted the Constitution Includes a glossary, highlights of constitutional history, and a fully updated appendix of the names and dates of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Includes copies of the U.S. Constitution and Its Amendments, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation
European agencies have been created at a rapid pace in recent years in a multitude of highly pertinent and sensitive fields ranging from pharmaceuticals and aviation safety to chemicals or financial supervision. This agency phenomenon shows no signs of relenting, and the trend in recent years is towards the delegation of ever-broader powers. These bodies, meant to operate at arm's length from political control, have real power and their opinions and decisions can have a direct impact on individuals, regulators, and member states. Given the powers wielded by the agencies, who is responsible for holding these non-majoritarian actors to account? Is the growing concern surrounding agency accountability 'much ado about nothing' or are we faced with the threat of a powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy? These are precisely the questions that this book seeks to answer. It thus addresses one of the most relevant topics in current European governance: the accountability of European agencies. Scholars have increasingly called attention to the risk of placing too much power in the hands of such agencies, which operate at arm's length from traditional controls and cannot easily be held accountable for their actions. Although this is a major issue of concern, systematic empirical research into the topic is lacking. This book addresses empirically whether, and if so on what counts, agency accountability is problematic. It examines how the accountability system of European agencies operates at both the de jure as well as the de facto level, through an examination of legal provisions, relevant case law as well as policy documents and extensive interview material. Reflecting on these findings, the book also offers important theoretical insights for our understanding and study of accountability in a complex regulatory regime such as the EU context. The book follows a multi-disciplinary approach and is at the cutting edge of law and public administration.
The New Jersey State Constitution is a completely revised new
edition that provide an outstanding constitutional and historical
account of the state's governing charter. In addition to an
overview of New Jersey's constitutional history, it provides an
in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution,
detailing the many significant changes that have been made since
its initial drafting. This treatment, along with a table of cases,
index, and bibliography provides an unsurpassed reference guide for
students, scholars, and practitioners of New Jersey's constitution.
Anton Fagan has taught the South African law of delict for twenty years and has written extensively on the subject. Undoing Delict: The South African Law of Delict under the Constitution includes his ten best previously published articles and essays. They deal with a range of topics, such as wrongfulness, causation, pure economic loss, and defamation. Several of the contributions investigate the impact of the Constitution, or of certain Constitutional Court judgments, on the law of delict or a part thereof. In addition, Undoing Delict includes a previously unpublished essay in which Fagan develops a new explanation of what it means for intentional harm-causing conduct to be wrongful. Many of the views put forward in this book are controversial and their defence against contrary views is at times robust. But the aim throughout is to deepen or advance our understanding of important and interesting, and in some instances puzzling, aspects of the South African law of delict.
This book analyses the fundamental aspects of the Constitution of the United States of America, which has proven to be a reality in motion and with an 'exceptional' capacity to adapt to the rapid and profound changes that have occurred in over two centuries in American society and economy. The book aims to better understand how the constitutional text has evolved up to our times. The 27 amendments to the Constitution, the interpretation of the Supreme Court and the particular political system have ensured that the constitutional system has not undergone major institutional upheavals. Thanks to the contribution of the many authors, the book offers valuable insights into a constitutional system that still reveals an extraordinary relevance. This can be considered an added value to studies in the field of comparative law.
Supervision of Local Government discusses the role of national and provincial governments in supervising the functions of local government. The book analyses the legal status of local government, which is entrenched and protected by the Constitution, and examines the powers of the national and provincial governments to supervise local government. Supervision of Local Government explores international practices in the supervision of local government and investigates general trends in the supervision of selected municipalities in South Africa. Shortcomings, inconsistencies and irregularities in the supervision of local government are identified. The book discusses the concept of `supervision' as it relates to local government in its broad sense, which includes monitoring, intervening in and supporting local government. Supervision of Local Government also explores the manifestation of the principles of cooperative government and subsidiarity in the supervision of local government by national and provincial governments. Cooperative government requires that the other spheres of government intervene in local government to assist municipalities in managing their own affairs, while the principle of subsidiarity requires that services should be rendered at the lowest possible level of government. Thus, the national and provincial spheres have a duty to support the local sphere of government in fulfilling this duty and this duty is analysed in the book.
The Washington State Constitution provides an outstanding
constitutional and historical account of the state's governing
charter. In addition to an overview of Washington's constitutional
history that focuses on the document's 19th century populist roots,
it provides an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire
constitution, detailing the many significant changes made since its
initial drafting. This treatment, along with a table of cases,
index, and bibliography, provides an unsurpassed reference guide
for lawyers, judges, scholars, and members of the general public.
Managing without fear is the ability to make personnel decisions, from hiring to separations and everything in between, without fear of breaking the law and with the goal of creating a work environment you and your employees are proud to be part of. In Managing Employees Without Fear, workplace lawyer Adam Rosenthal expertly delivers every manager's comprehensive, go-to practical guide for managing a legally compliant workplace and building a positive, productive, and first-class work culture along the way. Packed with unique insights and lessons from an attorney who has counseled and represented companies and managers in thousands of workplace disputes, Rosenthal provides people managers with effective tools on how to successfully navigate around complicated personnel issues. From improving hiring and onboarding practices, to adopting strategies in dealing with underperforming employees, to implementing meaningful ways to promote diversity and inclusion, this book provides managers at every level a significant return on their investment.
The Law of Evidence in South Africa, Third Edition offers a clear,
concise, and applied introduction to the principles governing the law
of evidence in South Africa, including the verification of truth within
customary law contexts.
This text provides students with a variety of case materials on different aspects of administartive law. Each chapter begins with a short summary of the law and the legal issues raised in the chapter, followed by extracts from case law. As far as possible, the latest case law is used.
Developments have turned the study of South African constitutional law, even at an introductory level into a major undertaking. The purpose of this book is to guide the student of constitutional law in such an undertaking.
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