The Legitimacy of European Constitutional Orders is a systematic and comparative study of European constitutional orders, taking into consideration the national constitutional traditions of European countries, as well as the defining power of EU law. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, this book explores the trajectories followed by European national constitutional orders in their efforts to attain legitimacy. More in particular, the book investigates Bruce Ackerman’s influential world constitutionalism project and engages with the three legitimacy pathways put forward therein; that is, the revolutionary, the establishment, and the elite pathways. Such ideal trajectories are revisited and found in need of being questioned so as to furnish the conceptual tools essential in the efforts of reconstructing and assessing the European constitutional orders. The book also considers the relevance of constitutional transformation and change in comparative constitutional law, and accounts for the manifold impacts of the European integration process on national constitutional trajectories. Offering an original perspective on the issue of constitutional legitimacy in the European context, this comprehensive book will be of interest to scholars and students of comparative law, constitutional law, European law, political science and constitutional theory as well as researchers and practitioners in these fields.

Critical theory encapsulates the many connections between theory and praxis. This Research Handbook addresses the broad range of these connections in relation to legal thought. Featuring contributions from leading scholars of law and critical theory, the Handbook confronts the logic of the institutional with its specific challenges right across the broad field of legal thought. The Research Handbook initially addresses the question of definition, tracking the origins and development of critical legal theory along its European and North American trajectories. Thematic connections are made between the development of legal theory and other currents of critical thought including feminism, Marxism, critical race theory, varieties of postmodernism, as well as the various 'turns' (ethical, aesthetic, political) of critical legal theory. Finally, particular legal disciplines are examined, including labour, criminal and intellectual property law, exploring what critical approaches reveal about them with the clear focus on opportunities for social transformation. This comprehensive and forward-looking Research Handbook will be of great interest to adherents of critical legal theory and scholars of jurisprudence more widely, as it provides a valuable analysis of the latest research and thinking in this dynamic field.

Jurisprudence: Themes and Concepts offers an original introduction to, and critical analysis of, the central themes studied in jurisprudence courses. The book is organised in three parts: Part I sets out the key elements of modern law and their relation to political, economic, and social conditions. Part II presents competing accounts of the nature of legal validity, legality, legal reasoning, and justice. Both parts feature corresponding tutorial questions. Part III contains advanced topics including chapters on legal pluralism, law and disciplinary power, and law and the Anthropocene. Every chapter gives guidance on further reading. This fourth edition has been fully revised and updated to take into account the latest developments in jurisprudential scholarship. Additional material is included in the coverage of social law, colonialism and critical race theory, the challenges of digital technology and the emergence of new legal subjects. Accessible, interdisciplinary and socially informed, Jurisprudence: Themes and Concepts is essential reading for all students of jurisprudence and legal philosophy.

Jurisprudence: Themes and Concepts offers an original introduction to, and critical analysis of, the central themes studied in jurisprudence courses. The book is organised in three parts: Part I sets out the key elements of modern law and their relation to political, economic, and social conditions. Part II presents competing accounts of the nature of legal validity, legality, legal reasoning, and justice. Both parts feature corresponding tutorial questions. Part III contains advanced topics including chapters on legal pluralism, law and disciplinary power, and law and the Anthropocene. Every chapter gives guidance on further reading. This fourth edition has been fully revised and updated to take into account the latest developments in jurisprudential scholarship. Additional material is included in the coverage of social law, colonialism and critical race theory, the challenges of digital technology and the emergence of new legal subjects. Accessible, interdisciplinary and socially informed, Jurisprudence: Themes and Concepts is essential reading for all students of jurisprudence and legal philosophy.

Critical theory encapsulates the many connections between theory and praxis. This Research Handbook addresses the broad range of these connections in relation to legal thought. Featuring contributions from leading scholars of law and critical theory, the Handbook confronts the logic of the institutional with its specific challenges right across the broad field of legal thought. The Research Handbook initially addresses the question of definition, tracking the origins and development of critical legal theory along its European and North American trajectories. Thematic connections are made between the development of legal theory and other currents of critical thought including feminism, Marxism, critical race theory, varieties of postmodernism, as well as the various 'turns' (ethical, aesthetic, political) of critical legal theory. Finally, particular legal disciplines are examined, including labour, criminal and intellectual property law, exploring what critical approaches reveal about them with the clear focus on opportunities for social transformation. This comprehensive and forward-looking Research Handbook will be of great interest to adherents of critical legal theory and scholars of jurisprudence more widely, as it provides a valuable analysis of the latest research and thinking in this dynamic field.

Despite a long and venerable tradition, the material constitution almost disappeared from constitutional scholarship after the Second World War. Its marginalisation saw the rise of a normative and legalistic style in constitutional law that neglected the role of social reality and political economy. This collection not only retrieves the history and development of the concept of the material constitution, but it tests its theoretical and practical relevance in the contemporary world. With essays from a diverse range of contributors, the collection demonstrates that the material constitution speaks to several pressing issues, from the significance of economic development in constitutional orders to questions of constitutional identity. Offering original analyses supported by international case studies, this book develops a new model of constitutional reality, one that informs our understanding of the world in profound ways.

The essays selected for this volume demonstrate the importance of law - conceptually, normatively and practically - to a proper understanding of Hannah Arendt's work. Though Arendt herself was not a lawyer, and lacked any legal training, it is remarkable that in each of her guises law plays an often subtle, at times idiosyncratic, but unavoidably vital role. For example, as a journalist, confronting the evil of Adolf Eichmann; or as an essayist, engaged with emerging democracies in the East or their unravelling in the West; or as a political thinker concerned to celebrate and secure the conditions for political action; or as a philosopher, reflecting on man's capacity for judgement. Although Arendt herself never wrote systematically about law her rich insights in this field have been studied closely by scholars and this collection marks the first attempt to gather that work, and to understand it thematically. In so doing, the editors seek to open a dual dialogue: inviting Arendt scholars to uncover what Arendt had to say about law, and legal scholars to evaluate her contribution to the field of law.

This Element aims to explore how the relation between societal organisation and legal orders - the question of materiality - has been investigated in philosophy of law. The starting point of the Element is that such relation has often been left invisible or thematised in poor and reductive terms. After having explained the main reasons behind this neglect, the Element provides an overview of the three main approaches to legal philosophy whose contributions, though not always effective, can still provide some insights for a contemporary analysis of legal orders' materiality: materialism, legal institutionalism, and the new materialism. The last section of the Element suggests looking for a footing for the study of materiality in two fields: the metaphysics of relations and the political economy of legal orders.

How should the state face the challenge of radical pluralism? How can constitutional orders be changed when they prove unable to regulate society? Santi Romano, Carl Schmitt, and Costantino Mortati, the leading figures of Continental legal institutionalism, provided three responses that deserve our full attention today. Mariano Croce and Marco Goldoni introduce and analyze these three towering figures for a modern audience. Romano thought pluralism to be an inherent feature of legality and envisaged a far-reaching reform of the state for it to be a platform of negotiation between autonomous normative regimes. Schmitt believed pluralism to be a dangerous deviation that should be curbed through the juridical exclusion of alternative institutional formations. Mortati held an idea of the constitution as the outcome of a basic agreement among hegemonic forces that should shape a shared form of life. The Legacy of Pluralism explores the convergences and divergences of these towering jurists to take stock of their ground-breaking analyses of the origin of the legal order and to show how they can help us cope with the current crisis of national constitutional systems.

Much has changed in European constitutional law after the Lisbon Treaty, not least the efforts to increase democratic legitimacy by engaging national legislatures and introducing a stricter subsidiary review process, namely the Early Warning Mechanism (EWM). This collection looks at how national parliaments have adapted to their new roles and looks at how the new system has impacted on relations between the EU legislative bodies and national parliaments. A team of experts from across Europe explore the effect of the EWM on the national constitutional orders; analyse the regional impact of EWM and evaluate the new system of scrutiny.

This book fills a major gap in the ever-increasing secondary literature on Hannah Arendt's political thought by providing a dedicated and coherent treatment of the many, various and interesting things which Arendt had to say about law. Often obscured by more pressing or more controversial aspects of her work, Arendt nonetheless had interesting insights into Greek and Roman concepts of law, human rights, constitutional design, legislation, sovereignty, international tribunals, judicial review and much more. This book retrieves these aspects of her legal philosophy for the attention of both Arendt scholars and lawyers alike. The book brings together lawyers as well as Arendt scholars drawn from a range of disciplines (philosophy, political science, international relations), who have engaged in an internal debate the dynamism of which is captured in print. Following the editors' introduction, the book is split into four Parts: Part I explores the concept of law in Arendt's thought; Part II explores legal aspects of Arendt's constitutional thought: first locating Arendt in the wider tradition of republican constitutionalism, before turning attention to the role of courts and the role of parliament in her constitutional design. In Part III Arendt's thought on international law is explored from a variety of perspectives, covering international institutions and international criminal law, as well as the theoretical foundations of international law. Part IV debates the foundations, content and meaning of Arendt's famous and influential claim that the 'right to have rights' is the one true human right.

This book fills a major gap in the ever-increasing secondary literature on Hannah Arendt's political thought by providing a dedicated and coherent treatment of the many, various and interesting things which Arendt had to say about law. Often obscured by more pressing or more controversial aspects of her work, Arendt nonetheless had interesting insights into Greek and Roman concepts of law, human rights, constitutional design, legislation, sovereignty, international tribunals, judicial review and much more. This book retrieves these aspects of her legal philosophy for the attention of both Arendt scholars and lawyers alike. The book brings together lawyers as well as Arendt scholars drawn from a range of disciplines (philosophy, political science, international relations), who have engaged in an internal debate the dynamism of which is captured in print. Following the editors' introduction, the book is split into four Parts: Part I explores the concept of law in Arendt's thought; Part II explores legal aspects of Arendt's constitutional thought: first locating Arendt in the wider tradition of republican constitutionalism, before turning attention to the role of courts and the role of parliament in her constitutional design. In Part III Arendt's thought on international law is explored from a variety of perspectives, covering international institutions and international criminal law, as well as the theoretical foundations of international law. Part IV debates the foundations, content and meaning of Arendt's famous and influential claim that the 'right to have rights' is the one true human right.

Much has changed in European constitutional law after the Lisbon Treaty, not least the efforts to increase democratic legitimacy by engaging national legislatures and introducing a stricter subsidiary review process, namely the Early Warning Mechanism (EWM). This collection looks at how national parliaments have adapted to their new roles and looks at how the new system has impacted on relations between the EU legislative bodies and national parliaments. A team of experts from across Europe explore the effect of the EWM on the national constitutional orders; analyse the regional impact of EWM and evaluate the new system of scrutiny.