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Part II Ideas, Ch.8 Constitutions and Constitutionalism

Stephen Holmes

From: The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law

Edited By: Michel Rosenfeld, András Sajó

From: Oxford Constitutions (http://oxcon.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 30 May 2023

Democratic theory conventionally defines a constitution as a ‘higher law’ that cannot be changed through normal lawmaking procedures in a popularly elected assembly.1 Exceptional legal entrenchment is said to insulate constitutional rules from the majoritarian controls that purportedly govern ordinary legislation. In this way, a constitutional text strives to make fast the form of government (a presidential or parliamentary, a unitary or federal republic), the limits of government (inviolable rights and immunities), and the goals for which the government is...
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