Constitutionalism

Past, Present, and Future

Dieter Grimm

Oxford Constitutional Theory

Presents the definitive English-language collection of Dieter Grimm's important body of constitutional scholarship
Offers an insight into continental perspectives about constitutionalism
Topics span the origins of modern State constitutionalism, the functionalist understanding of constitutions, constitutional interpretation and adjudication, and the future of constitutionalism in the domestic and international context

Constitutionalism

Past, Present, and Future

Dieter Grimm

Description

Constitutionalism: Past, Present, and Future is the definitive collection of Dieter Grimm's most influential writings on constitutional thought and interpretation. The essays included in this volume explore the conditions under which the modern constitution could emerge; they treat the characteristics that must be given if the constitution may be called an achievement, the appropriate way to understand and interpret constitutional law under current conditions, the function of judicial review, the remaining role of national constitutions in a changing world, as well as the possibility of supra-national constitutionalism.

Many of these essays have influenced the German and European discussion on constitutionalism and for the first time, much of the work of one of German's leading scholars of public law will be available in the English language.

Constitutionalism

Past, Present, and Future

Dieter Grimm

Oxford Constitutional Theory

I. Introduction
1:The Origins and Transformation of the Concept of the Constitution
II. Origins
2:Conditions for the Emergence and Effectiveness of Modern Constitutions
3:Basic Rights in the Formative Eras of Modern Society
4:The Concept of Constitution in Historical Perspective
III. Concepts and Function
5:The Function of Constitutions and Guidelines for Constitutional Reform
6:Integration by Constitution
IV. Interpretation
7:Fundamental Rights in the Interpretation of the German Constitutional Court
8:Return to the Traditional Understanding of Fundamental Rights?
V. Adjudication
9:Constitutional Courts and Constitutional Interpretation at the Interface of Law and Politics
10:Constitutional Adjudication and Democracy
VI. The Future
11:The Future of Constitutionalism
12:Can Democracy by Bargaining be Constitutionalized?
VII. Europeanisation
13:The Role of National Constitutions in a United Europe
14:The Democratic Costs of Constitutionalisation - The European Case
VIII. Internationalisation
15:The Constitution in the Process of Denationalisation
16:Societal Constitutionalism
17:Levels of the Rule of Law - On the Possibility of Exporting a Western Achievement
IX. Conclusion
18:The Achievement of Constitutionalism and its Prospects in a Changed World

Constitutionalism

Past, Present, and Future

Dieter Grimm

Oxford Constitutional Theory

Author Information

Dieter Grimm, Professor of Law and former Justice Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Humboldt University Berlin

Dieter Grimm teaches constitutional law at Humboldt University Berlin and the Yale Law School. From 1987-1999 he served as Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. From 2001-2007 he was the Director of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study) whose Permanent Fellow he continues to be. He was Visiting Professor at Harvard, New York University, Toronto, Rome, Kolkata, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and a Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study in South Africa. He is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Academia Europaea and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from the universities of Toronto, Göttingen, Porto Alegre, and Bucarest. He has widely published on matters of constitutional law, constitutional history, constitutional theory, comparative constitutionalism, and European Union law.

Constitutionalism

Past, Present, and Future

Dieter Grimm

Oxford Constitutional Theory

Reviews and Awards

"Dieter Grimm has been a leading international theorist of the history, nature, and prospects of constitutionalism. His work is of deep relevance to significant modern phenomena, like the European Union. This book brings together and synthesizes more than two decades of work. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of contemporary constitutionalism." - Robert Post, Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law, Yale Law School

"Out of a series of deeply informed, tightly reasoned reflections on modern constitutionalism, Dieter Grimm distills his own brand of moderately contentious, guardedly optimistic constitutional wisdom for the present day. An added attraction is the access some chapters provide for Anglophone readers to past and present German scholarly debates and juridical solutions." - Frank I. Michelman, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Emeritus, Harvard Law School

"For those seeking to understand the conditions in which modern constitutions emerged and the changing conditions in which they now operate, these elegant essays are rewarding reading. Filled with insights from a lifetime of learning and devotion to constitutional law — in Germany, Europe, and elsewhere — they are at once synthetic and provocative, offering intriguing analyses of the challenges posed by the expanded risk-prevention tasks of contemporary governance (and related 'negotiative democracy') and by the regionalization and globalization of legal orders." - Vicki C. Jackson, Thurgood Marshall Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School