Loading...
What State Constitutional Law Can Tell Us About the Federal
What State Constitutional Law Can Tell Us About the Federal Constitution Joseph Blocher* INTRODUCTION Courts and scholars have long sought to illuminate the relationship between state and federal constitutional law Yet their attention, like the relationship itself, has largely been one-sided: State courts have
Constitutions and International Law - IDEA
Countries fall into two broad categories based on the relationship between international and domestic law (Feldman 1999): • In monist countries, international law automatically takes effect in domestic law • In dualist countries such as Myanmar, international law must be implemented by domestic law before it is given domestic effect
Searches related to constitutional law addresses the relationship between filetype:pdf
• Article IV addresses the relationship between the states and their citizens, how to handle the admission of new states, and how to govern federal territories (It also includes the infamous Fugitive Slave Clause ) • Article V sets out the process for amending the Constitution • Article VI establishes the supremacy of national law over
[PDF] International Constitutional Law: Written or Unwritten? - Hopes
ternational constitutional law was addressed only cursorily—that is the among certain independent powers that henceforth their relations should be governed
[PDF] HUMAN RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTION MAKING - OHCHR
of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city address the question of the relationship between the individual and the State
[PDF] 12 PUBLIC LAW AND PRIVATE LAW - NIOS
and the law as command regulates the relationship between individuals and also The Public Law deals with the social problems in the broad context and may Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
- PDF document for free
![[PDF] International Constitutional Law: Written or Unwritten? - Hopes](https://pdfprof.com/EN_PDFV2/Docs/PDF_10/63318_10International_Constitutional_Law_WrittenorUnwritten.pdf.jpg "[PDF] International Constitutional Law: Written or Unwritten? - Hopes")
63318_10International_Constitutional_Law_WrittenorUnwritten.pdf VC The Author2016. PublishedbyOxford UniversityPress.Allrights reserved. doi:10.1093/chinesejil/jmw032;AdvanceAccess publication24 October 2016 ....................................................................................................................................
InternationalConstitutio nal
Law:W rittenorUnwritten ?
Bardo Fassbender*
Abstract
Today,conc eptsofconstit utionalis marewidelyusedininternational legal scholarship,bothto describe andto promotechanges inthe internat ionalle- gal orderinsup portof theruleoflaw, theprote ction ofhuman rights and othercommo nvaluesof theinternationa lcomm unity. Againstthisback- ground,the present articledealswith aquestionso faraddr essed only cursorily"thewrittenness ofinternationalcons titutiona llaw.Canweas- sume theexist enceofanunw ritten internat ionalconstitution,or doesthe veryconc eptofacons tituti onin themodernsenserequiretha ta constitut ion is laiddownin written form? Thearticledisc ussestheimpo rtance of writtennessinmode rncons titutionalism andaddressestheEnglishexcep- tion,that isthe absence ,in theUnitedKingdom,of adocum entcalle dthe constitution.Thepaper conclud eswithaple afortakingthecons titutio nal characterofthe UNChar termore seriousl y,arguingthat theide aofan unwrittencons titutionoftheinternational communit ydoes notprovidea viablealt ernative. If therewere aConstitut ion, itcertainlycouldberefer redto; andthe debateona nyCons tituti onalpointwouldterminatebyproduci ng theC onstitution.Onemembersaysth isisCo nstitution"and anothersaystha tisCo nstitution .To -dayitisonething;and to-morrowsomethingel se"whilemaint ainingthedebateproves thereis none. 1 * ProfessorofInterna tional Law,EuropeanLawandPubli cLaw,Uni versityofSt. Gallen,Switz erland.Contact:bardo.fas sbender@unisg.ch. Thisarticlewascom- pletedon14 Febr uary 2015.1 ThomasPaine,The Rightsof Man :BeinganAnswe rto Mr.BurkesAtt ackonthe
FrenchRev olution(rstpublishe d1791,W. T.Sherwin1817),84 (withrefere nce to theEnglis hConstitution andthedebatesintheEn glish Parliament )..................................................................................................................................................................
15Chinese Journalof International Law(2016), 489...515
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
I. Introduction
1. Theuse ofconsti tuti onallanguageininternational lawistodaymuchmo reco m-
month anitwas ten orfteen yearsag o.Th etransfer,or translation, oftheco nsti- tutionalideafr omthesp hereofth emodern statetothat ofin ternatio nallaw,whic h untilth emid-1 990shadhadonlyfew advocate s, 2 has attractedtheimagin ationof manyin ternationallawyers"manydif ferencesofopinionabou tho wexactlysu ch transfershould beunderstood orco nstructednotwithsta ndin g.Scholarshaveused conceptsofcons titu tionalismtoidentify,nameandalsopr omot easpectsoffunda- mentalchan geintheinte rnat ionalle galorderwhichweallnotice butcannotea sily expressinthe tradi tionalla nguageofinternationa llawwelearned. 32. Againstthisba ckground ,thepresentarticlewa ntstoof fersomethoughts about
a questionwhich sofarinthelite ratu reabout the existenc eortheprospectsof anin- ternationalconstituti onallawwasaddressedonlycur sorily- thatisth equestionof thew rittennessofsuchalaw.Isit poss ibletoaf rm ,assom esc holar shavedone,the existenceofanun writ ten internationalconsti tution,madeupofcustomaryrule s andpr inciples,ordoestheve ryco nceptof aconsti tutionin themodernsense requ ire thata cons titutionislaiddowninwr itte nform ?Andhowm ust theCharterofth eUnitedNati onsbeseeninthe ligh tofthat ques tion?
3. Forthe following reflectionsItake asastartingpointtw oqu otations byon eof
thepio neersoftheid eaof anintern ational cons titu tionallaw, 4 theV ienneseprofessor AlfredVerd ross(1890-1980). Inhisbookaboutthesour ces ofintern ational lawpub- lishedin19 73, Verdrossw roteinachapterentitle dTheconsti tuti onof theuniversa l internationallegalcommun ity: Theco nstitutionalprinciplesofthe moderncommunityofstat esca meinto be- ingunoa ctuwithth eformat ionofsovereignstat es. Therefore,thecom munitys originalnormsre sultedneithe rfromaform alinternational agreementno rf rom custom,butfr omaninf ormal cons ensusamongtherulersof thattimebywhich2 Forasy stemat icreviewoftheold erliterature, seeBa rdoFassbend er,TheUnite d
NationsChart erasConstituti onof theInternationalCommun ity, 36ColumbiaJournalofTra nsnat ionalLaw(1998),529,53 8-51.
3 Forover viewsofthemore recent literatu re,seeOli verDiggelmann &Tilmann
Altwicker,IsThereSom eth ingLike aConstitutionofIn ternationa lLa w?ACritical AnalysisoftheD eb ateonWor ldConstitutio nalism ,68Zeitsc hriftfu¨rausl andisches o¨ffentlichesRechtundVo¨lkerrecht(2008),623;Thomas Kleinle in ,BetweenMyt hs andN orms:Construct ivistConstitutionalisman dthePotentialofConstitutional PrinciplesinIntern at ionalLaw,81NordicJIL(2012),79.F orabibliograp hyof worksona con sti tutionalizationoflawbeyondthestate,seeBardo Fassben der& AngelikaSiehr (eds.),Supra staatlicheKonsti tutionalisierung(Nomos2012 ),313-22.4 Ifnot indica tedotherwise,th eexpressionsintern ationalcon stitutionallaw,inter-
nationalconst itution,andconstitutionof theinter nationalcommunityareused synonymouslyinthisar ticle .490Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
theyre cognizedcertainprinci plesaslegally binding.Consequen tly,th esecon- stitutionalprinciple sarebasedonunwrittenlawbutn otonin ternatio nalcus- tomarylaw. Wehave todi stinguishor igin alconstitutionallawfr omnormsof formaltreaty lawandcustom arylaw ,thela ttertwobeingdependent onthefor- mer[ ...]. 5 Threeyea rslater,ina neweditio no fh istreat iseoninternational law, Verdro ssdis- tinguishedthrees uccessive periodsinthedev elopmentofthe "constitutionalp rin- ciplesofth ecom munity ofstates",namely"theco nsti tutionofthen on-organized communityofstates ",the constitution oftheLe agueofNations,andtheconst itu- tion oftheU nit edNations. 6About thelat ter,hesaidin the1984edition ofthe
treatise: TheUn itedNations [...] wasfound edbyamultilatera ltr eat yonthebasisof generalinterna tionallawbeinginforcea ttheti me.Itredesi gnedth eclassical in- ternationallawofthe non-org aniz edcommu nityofstates,whichhadretu rned to lifeafte rthebreak downof theLeagueofNations,as the legalor derofthe newlyorg anizedinternational community.However,inth ebeginningtheUN Charterwasonly thecons titution ofapart ialstructure[Teilordnung] withinthe universalsystemof internationalla wbe causetheUNoriginallyin cluded only fifty-onestates .Butsincealm ostall stateshavebe comemembersofth atorgan i- zationand therema iningst ateshaverecognize ditsfundamen talprin ciples,the UN Charterhasgain edthe statusofthefun dament alorderofpr esen tuniver sal internationallaw. 7 Thisfu ndamentalorderVerdross addressedal soas"theconstitu tionallawofthecom- munityofsta tes havingbecom euniversal". 84. Inth esetwoquota tions,we findthreepossiblesour ces ofan internationa lcon-
stitutionallaw:"info rmalconsensu s"ofstates,customa rylaw,andtreatylaw, resp ec- tively.The constitution sarisingfromthefirsttwoso urcesare,assuch ,unwrit ten (althoughtheirru lescanbere statedinwrit tenform ),w hileinVerdross" conc eption theco nstitutiongeneratedbyth ethirdsourceisaw rit tenone (althougha treatyis notne cessarilyanagreementin wr ittenform).Thedist inct ionbetweenawritte nand an unwrittenconstitu tionspringingfromthese differentsourcespar tlycoin cideswith5 AlfredVerdross ,DieQuellende suniversellen Vo¨lkerrechts :EineEin fu¨hrung
(Rombach1973 ),20(mytransla tion, B.F., emphasisintheoriginal).6 AlfredVerdros s&BrunoSimma,Uni verse llesVo¨ lkerrecht:Theor ieundPraxis
(Duncker&H umbl ot1976),pt.2.Uncha nged2ndedn. 1981.7 AlfredVerdros s&BrunoSimma,Uni verse llesVo¨ lkerrecht:Theor ieundPraxis(3rd
edn.,Dun cker&Humblot 1984) ,72(mytransla tion,B.F.).8 Verdross&Simma, above n.6,5,andVerd ross&Sim ma,above n.7, ix.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 491
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
thatbe tweena"formal" anda "material"(or"subs tant ive") constitution 9 : Aco nstitu- tionin the formalse nseisacerta insolemndocu ment ,or acollection ofsuchdocu- ments,and therefor econsistsofawrit tentext,whil ea cons titutioninamaterial (or substantive)sensedesc ribesaset ofbasic,orprimary(and ther efore"co nsti tutional"), ruleswh ichmaybewrit tenorno t,co llectedinaparticular docu mentor not.5. Itfu rtherappearsfrom Verdross"sre marksth atbytheword"constitu tion"we
canun derstanddifferentth ingswithrespecttoin ternational law:The "originalcon- stitutionallaw"creat edbywayof"in formalconsen sus" amongst ates intheformative phaseofm oder ninternational lawisnotthesameastheco nstituti onal lawofth e communityofstat esem bodiedinthe UNCharterof 1945 .The "original law"(more a heuristicideathana matter ofhistor y)is imaginedasaresu ltof asortofsocialco n- tractby which an"intern atio nallaw"wasestablished,i.e .aresultof anunders tanding amongcerta inindependent powersthathenceforth theirrelati onsshou ldbegoverned by legalrules. Accordingly, this"original"(or"necessary ")lawhad toencompassru les regarding"theperso nsableto create,and tobeanadd resse eof,rulesofinte rnationa l law",or "the procedure inwhichtheseru les aremade". 10The"or iginalconstituti onal
law"th ereforedeterminesthe sources,thesubj ectsand thecreationofin ternatio nal law.As the basisof internationa lla w,itlogicallyprecedesthat law.Itismore aco nsti- tutionof internationallawthana cons titutionof theinte rnationalcommunity.Incon- trast,the constitu tionallawoftheUNCharter basi call yconsis tsofast atementof commonvalu esandaims sharedby themembersta tesoftheUn ited Nations, which actedonbeh alf ofallstates ,and acorres pondingsetofco mm ands andprohibitions addressedtostates ,on theonehand,and ofa "planofg overnment "setting outthe organizationalstructureof theUNandthecompet ences ofitsor gans ,on theothe r hand.Th eCharterof 1945presupposed the existence ofaninternationallawwh ich, however,itradic ally soughttotransfor m.6. Thus,thean swertoth equestionof wh etherwe recognizeasexis ting ,oraspire
to,a writ tenconstitution oftheinternationalcom mun itydepen dsonthekindof ruleswe callcons titution al,orwhichwewishtohaveacons titu tionalqualit y.The problemofawr itte nor anunwritteninte rnat iona lconstitutionisther eforetanta- mounttoth equ estionof themeaningan dpu rposeof constitutionallawasa (consti- tutive)partof internati onal law.Thatquestionagainis equivalen ttothe issueofthe generalcharac terornatureofcontem pora ryinternatio nal law.Howdowecompre- hendand conc eptualizeinternationallaw? Howdoweunderstanditspr esentro le andit spotent ialintheconduct ofin ternatio nalrelations?V iew sonthosefundamen-9 Forthe distinctio nbetweenaconstitution inaformaland aco nstitutioninamate-
rialsen se,see,e.g .,HansKel sen,Gener alTheoryof LawandState (Anders Wedbergtrans l.,HarvardUnive rsityPress1945),124 -25.10 SeeVerd ross,Quellen,aboven.5 ,21.
492Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
talqu estionsdifferstrongl yandhavefo undasynthesizedex pression indiffer enttheo- riesan dschool softhought.Ifwe cont entourselveswi than inte rnationalconsti tu- tionallaw limite dtoafewmeta-rules sim ilar toH.L.A. Hart"sruleofrecognit ion,we mayw elldowith out awrittenconstitu tion ,locatingthatlawin steadinthespheresof informalconsen susorcustom.However, if, inaccordance withtheregulat oryneed s of theorg anizedinternationalco mmunityoftoday,ourexpe ctationswithrespectto there achandscop eofanint ernationalco nsti tuti onallawaregreater,it isdifficultto seeho wtheyco uldcom etofulfilment intheabsence ofa writtenconstitu tion allaw.7. Onth ebasis oftheabovein trodu ctoryre marks, wemaydistinguishthe follow-
ingqu estionswithregardto theexis tenceornon- exis tenceof awritteninternatio nal constitutionallaw: (1) Isthe re,asamatte rof posi tivelaw,apa rtof internationallaw whichca nbe addressedas"cons titut ional"? (2) Ifth isquesti onisansweredinthe affir mative,fromwh ich lega lsourceorsour- cesdo those "constitu tional"rulesstem? (3) Arethes eruleswritte norunwritten,orboth writ tenandunwritten? (4) Isth ereatenden cytow ardsatextualisat ionofhither toun written"constitu- tional"rules? (5) Ifwe assu metheexiste nceofwr ittenrules,cantheybe asso ciatedwithcertain "constitutional"documentsin internationallaw? (6) Ifth erearesuch "constitut ional"doc uments,canweidentifyoneparticul ar documentwitha central chara cteraroundwhic htheotherdocument sare grouped? (7) Ifthe reissuch ace ntraldo cument ,whatareits necessaryfeatures compared to otherlegal textscal led"constituti on"? (8) Isth eaccepta nceoftheexistenceof such ace ntraldocumentcontrar yto the ideaof anon going processofa"co nstitutionaliza tion "of internationallaw?8. Someauth orsanswerthefir stquestionand thefollo wingques tionsintheaffir ma-
tive,upto the one towhic hthean swer isno-forinstance thefifth orthesixth, be- causeofa frag me ntationofinternationallawthat inhi bits"acomprehensiveorderof thew holesystem", 11 or becausewritte nconstitutionsare saidtohave"afairlystatic11 SeeAn dreasL.Paulus, TheInt ernationalLegal Syste masaConstitution,in: Jeffrey
L. Dunoff&Joel P.Tra chtman(ed s.), RulingtheWorld?Con stitutionalis m, InternationalLaw,andGlo balGovern ance (CUP2009),69 ,70,75,108.Seeal so KarlZem anek,CanIntern ationalLa wBe"Constitutionalized"?, in:Marcelo Kohen et al.(eds. ),Perspectives ofInternationalLawinth e21 stCentury:LiberAmicorum ProfessorChristi anDominice´inHon ourofhis80thBirth day (MartinusNij hoff2012),25, 42-45.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 493
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
nature"standin ginthewayofan "orga nicglob alconsti tuti onal ismasapromise for thefu ture". 129. However,ifalready the veryfirstofth oseques tionsis answered inth enegative,
theca scadeofquestion sbr eaksdown.Ifonede niestheexis tenceofaninternat iona l constitutionallawaspositi velaw(n egat ing,forexample, theposs ibilityofaconstitu- tionallaw "beyondth estate",oron lyconced ingastep-by-s tep developm entofcer- tainel ementsofinternati onal lawresemblingrulesof national constitutionallaw), oneca nstopth ereand ceasegiving thematt erofawrit tenorunwritt enconsti tution of theinter nationalcommunityfurther thought.Altern atively,onecan takethe wholeissu efromthesp hereofde legelata to thatofde legeferen da. Inot herwords, onem ayaskwh etherth ecreationofanintern ational constitutionalla wis desi rableas a futuredevelo pment,andifso,howsuch alawsh ould bebrough tforth, whethe rit shouldbewr itte norunwritten, whet heritshouldbesummarized inparticulardocu- ments,and whethe roneofthesedocume ntsshou ldpla yacentral role.10.W ithinthescope ofthepr esentarticl e,it isnotpo ssibletotrytoans werallthe
questionsidentified aboveinasystema ticandcomp rehe nsiv emanner.Instead, the authorwant stoshedligh ton thedicho tomyofa"writ ten" andan"un written"con- stitutionasaninte gral part oftheinternation allegal order byfirstly (andbriefly)dis- cussingthe importanc eof"writtenness"inmo dern constitutionalism(PartII ).Th e followingPartII Iaddres sesabi tmoreelaboratelythe "Engl ishexce ption",th atisthe absence,inthe Un itedKi ngdom,ofasing lewrittendocumentcall ed"th eco nstitu- tion".The ideaofth ispartis tosu pplyaba ckground fora disc ussion,inPa rtIV ,of thequ estionwhetherit ispersuasivetound erst and aninternationalcons titu tionasa "commonlawco nsti tution".Thefifthpartturnsto theUn itedNa tionsCh arter,em- phasizingitsqu alityas awrittencons titu tion alinstrumentofthein ternationalcom- munity.The articleconc ludeswithapleafo rtakingthecons titution alch aracter of theU NChart ermoreseriously, arguing thatforboththeoreti calandpractica lreason s theid eaofanun wr itte ninternationalconstitu tiondoesnotprovideaviable alterna- tive(P artVI).II. Constitutionas awritten document
11.T hehistoryof theideaand the notionof "constitu tion"is longand complex.It
canbe trac edbacktoanti quity, toth eGreekPoliteiaandth eRoman constitutioand statusrei publicae . 13 In theusag eofdifferent autho rsandindifferen tcontexts, the12 SeeChri stineE.J.Schwo¨be l,Glo bal ConstitutionalisminIntern ationalLegal
Perspective(Martin Nijhoff2011) ,125,133,161,16 3-65.13 SeeCharl esHowardMcIlwain ,Constit utionalism:Ancient andModern(firstpub-
lished1940, reviseded n.1947,Liberty Fund2007) ,22-60; HeinzMohnhaup t& DieterGrimm ,Verfassung: ZurGeschichtedesBegr iffsvonde rAntikebiszurGegenwart(2nded n.,Duncker &Humblot 2002),5-14.
494Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
meaningofthe noti on,appli edtoapolitical community,os cill ated betweenade- scriptiveandano rmative one. Inmedievalandearly modernti me s,thenotionbor- deredonan dov erlapped withotherssuchasinstitutio,lexfu ndamentalis(inEn glish fundamentallaw,inGermanGrundgesetz), andVerfassung. 1412.W hileallthatf ascinati nghistory mustremainundiscussedinth isarticle,it can
withre asonbesaidth atfro mthese venteent hcentur yonward writtennessbecamean evermo reimporta ntcharacteristic ofwhatwasaddressedas"cons titu tion"ofabo dy politic.This processculm inatedintheAmer icanandFrenchrevolut ions ,giving birth to writtenconstitu tionswhichbecametheprotot ypeofallfol lowingstateco nstitu- tionsupto the pres entday. Beforethelateei ghteenth century,ate rritory oracity couldbesa idto havea constitution-i.e.,awell-orderedan dre liablerelationshipbe- tweenth e"govern ment"andcertainpolitical enti tiesexisting intherespectiveterr i- toryin their ownrigh t(like the"estates oftherealm"). 15Butth en(inth eabsence of
sucha rela tionshipinBritishcoloni alAm erica,oritsabolit ionbyroyalabso lutismin France)anew deman darose to givea countrya("nor mati ve")constitutioninthe senseof"a wr itte n,systematic,comprehe nsiveandgenerallyap plicablefundamental law,no tmade tosettlebyw ay ofstatuteor cont ractacertai nm atter,ortosolve apa r- ticularconfli ct,butmadetode termine thenatu reof thestateandtoorga nizeits en- tirepo liticallife". 16 It wasthe existenc eofsuchaconstituti onth atturned ast ateinto a "constitutionalstate"(Verfassungsstaat). Inth eword softheGerman cons titution al lawyerJose fIsensee,to encapsulatethela wof theconstitutionina written document bestowsonthat lawa special dign ity, publicity,popula rityanddurabilit y. 1714 Mohnhaupt&Grimm, ibid. ,14-22,36-48 ,62-66.Seeal soHassoHofmann, Zur
Ideede sStaatsgr undgesetzes[Abouttheideaofthe fundamentalla wofstat e],in: HassoH ofmann,Recht-Polit ik-Verfa ssung (AlfredMetzn er19 86),261-95.15 SeeWer nerNaf,D erDurchbruch desVerfassungsged ankensim18 .Jahrhundert
[Thebr eakthroughoftheideaofcon stit ution inthe18 thce ntury],11Schweizer Beitragezur Allgem einenGeschichte(1953 ),108,111("Verhaltniszwisch enRegierungundLand ").
16 Ibid.,108. Forthe influenceof Romanlaw ontheform,andof the Enlightenm ent,
withit shighreg ardforration ality,reg ulari tyandsystematicconception, onthesub- stanceof this newideaof const itution, see HermannHeller,Staatslehre(A. W. Sijthoff1934 ),271-73,andHas soHofmann,Zu Entst ehung,En twicklungund Krisede sVerfassu ngsbegriffs[Abouttheevolution,develop mentandcr isisofth e conceptofco nstitu tion],in:AlexanderBlankenagel etal .(eds.),Verfassung im Diskursder Welt:Li berAmicorumPe terHaberle(Mohr Siebeck200 4),157,158. For thegenes isof"aconstitu tion inth emodernsense",seealsoDi eter Grimm,The ConstitutioninthePr ocess ofDenation alization,12 Const ellations(2005),447,447-53.
17 JosefIsens ee,Legitimation desGrundgesetzes[Thele gitimation oftheGerman
FundamentalLaw],in:Jo sefIsensee &Pau lKirchhof (eds.),Handbuc hde s StaatsrechtsderBunde srepublik Deutschland,vol.12(3rded n.,C.F.Mu¨ller2014),3, 43.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 495
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
13.Pr ofessorKarlLoewenste in,ale adingauthorityonthehistory ofco nstitution-
alism,expl ainedthehistoryof thewr ittenconsti tuti onasfol lows: Thede mandforawrit tenand uni fieddocumentati onofthe fundamental norms[of astate soc iety]arose aslateasinthePurita nrevolution ,in oppositi on to theclai mofabsolut ean dunlimitedauthor ityofth eLongParliament.[...] It wasinth ese venteen thand,moreinsistent ly,theeig hteenthcen turiesthat, underthe powerful stimulationofth esocial-contractconc ept, theterm "consti- tution"assum editsmodernconn otation .Itcametosig nifyasingledocument, containingthefun damenta llawofthestatesocietyan dimbued wit hitssp ecific telos,desi gnedtocurbthea rbit rarinessofth esingle powerholder[...]andto subjecthimto restrain tsan dcontrols[...], asi ngledocumen t,enactedwith specificsolemni ty,calledthe"fundamen tallaw",the"in strument ofgovern- ment",orth e"co nstituti on". 1814.T heimportant ideaofa"supremac y"ofth eco nsti tution,i.e.,ofconstitu tion al
lawta kingpreceden ceover,andthuscont rollinglaw of"lowerra nk"-with thecon- sequenceof"unco nsti tutional",andthereforevoid,legisl ativeac ts-wasgenerallyac- ceptedonly inthetw enti ethcent urybutalreadyexpl ainedbyAlexande rHamil tonin1788in one ofTheFe deralistpapersdefend ingtheConstitu tionadop tedbythe
PhiladelphiaConventi onin1787:
A constitutionis,infact,an dmustbe reg ardedbythe judgesas ,afund amen tal law.It ,there fore,belongstothemtoa scertainitsmean ing ,aswell as themean- ingof any particul aractproceedingfr omthele gislativebody.Ifthere should happentob ea nirreco ncilable variancebetweenthetwo,tha twhichhasthe su- periorobl igationandvalidityoug ht,ofco urse,tobeprefe rred;or,inothe r words,the Consti tutionoughttobepreferredto thestatute, the inte ntionof thepe opletothei nte ntionof theiragents.[...] [W]heneveraparticular stat ute contravenestheConst itution, itwillbethedutyofthejud icia ltribunals toad - hereto the lattera nddisregard theform er. 1915.Be sidesthecoloni alcharte rsgrantedbythe Crown,Loewenste inmentionedas
"them ostprominen tamongtheconstitu tionaldocume ntsauton omouslyenacted" theFu ndamentalOrdersofConnec ticutof1639 ,an das"thefirstvalidwritte n18 KarlLoewe nstein,PoliticalPower andtheGovernmen talProcess(2 ndedn.,
UniversityofChica goPr ess1965),126.
19 AlexanderHamilton ,TheJudiciaryDepartment(Th eFed eralistNo. 78),in:
ClintonRossi ter&CharlesR.Ke sler (eds.),TheFede ralis tPapers(Peng uin2003),463,466 -67.Thisautho rityofa judicialreviewofstat utes was laterconfirmed by
theU .S.SupremeCou rtinthecase Marburyv.M adis on, 5U.S.137(180 3).496Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
constitutionofthemo dern state",Oli verCromwell"sIn strumentof Governme ntof 1654.20
He continuedbysaying :
Thefin altriump hofdemocraticconsti tuti onalismsolemnize dinawrittendoc- umentstar tedintheNe wWorld, firstwith theconstitu tionsofthe American statesin rebelli onagainsttheEngli shcrownandthe nwith theirfederal consti- tutionin17 87. Foralongti meFre nch politic altheorist s,nurturedbyth econ- ceptsofth eso cialc ontractandpopu larsovereignty,ha dadvoc atedawritten constitution.Thedeman derupted withfullforce intheFrenchRevolut ion. [...] Thewritte nconstitution offeredtheframewithinwhi ch,inthefollo wing generations,thecomplet edemoc ratizationoftheproc essofpoliticalpower couldbeac com plished.[...] FromEur opethewritten constitu tionconquered thegl obe.[...] Iti ssafeto saythat the writte nconsti tutionha sbecomethe mostco mmonanduni versall yacceptedphenomenonoftheco ntemporarystat e organization. 21III. TheEnglish exception
16.T hereis,ofcour se,ano table exceptiontothe rule ofawritten constitution,re-
ferredtoalso inth ediscou rse aboutinte rnationalconstituti onallaw ,andthatisthe English(andBr itish,re spectively).Wh atIsayhereaboutthatexcept ionwithav iew to theques tionposedinthe titleofthis arti cle,isra therincomple tean dimprec ise;so I askever yreaderwh oismoreknow ledgeableabou tEn glishco nstitutionallawand historyforhe rorhis patience.17.D ifferentfromwhatisg enerallybeliev edtoday, Eng landsignificantly contrib-
utedto the Wester nideaofawrittenco nstituti on, 22evento the extentth atonecan sayth at"writin gandconstitution alis mareinextricableinEnglishhistory". 23
The countryprod uceddocumentslike theMagnaCart aof1215 ,theH abeasCorpusAc t of 1679,theBi llofRigh tsof1689 and theActofSe ttle mentof 1701which influ- encedthe constitu tionallawoftheUnitedStates ofAmeric aand manystate softhe Commonwealth.Andstill, "theproud traditionofco nsti tutionalgove rnment
20 Loewenstein,aboven.18,13 2-33.
21 Ibid.,133-3 6.
22 Forth eperiod ofOliverCro mwell ,seeWaltherRot hschild,DerGedankede r
geschriebenenVerfassung inderenglischenRev oluti on[Theid eaofawrittencon- stitutioninthe Engli shRevolutio n](J.C.B.Mohr 1903);EgonZweig, DieLehre vom PouvoirConstitu ant[Thedoctrineofpou voirconst ituant](J.C.B.Mohr1909),pt. 2,29-62; Franci sD.Wormut h,TheOrigins ofMode rn
Constitutionalism(Harper&Broth ers1949),pt.2, 43-15 9;andAndrewBli ck, BeyondMag naCarta:ACon stitutionfor the UnitedKingdom(Hart2015) ,73-82.23 Blick,above n.22,23.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 497
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
withoutawrit ten constitutionhas persistedinEngland" 24untiltoda y.In1733,Lor d Bolingbrokedefinedthe Englishcons titution inthatsenseasfo llows: By constitutionwemean,wh enev erwespeak withproprietyandex actness ,that assemblageoflaws, ins titutionsan dcustoms, derivedfromcer tainfixed principles of reason,directedto certainfixedob ject sofpublickgood ,thatcomp osethe generalsyste m,accordingtow hichthecommunit yha thagreedtobe governed. 25
18.Ex ceptfortheEn ligh tenmentid eaof"fixedprinciplesofreas on",
26a definition givenbyth eBr itishG overnmentin20 10isverysimilartothatformula ted byLord
Bolingbrokealmostth reehundredyear searlier:
[T]heBri tishconstitution isnot,asitisinmanyco untr ies,codi fiedina sin gle document,althoug hmuchofitisal readywritten.It isma deupof ac omplex webof stat utes,conventions,an dacorpusofcommon andothe rla w.Itisalso informedbyaninte rweavin gof historyandmoremoderndemocr ati c principles. 2719.T hisconstitu tionisnot,astheAmerican scho larofco nsti tutional historyCharles
H. McIlwainputit, a"consci ousformu lati onbyapeopleofitsfu ndamentallaw"but a collectivetermdenotin g"thesu bstantiveprinci plestobe deducedfromanation"s actualinst itutionsandtheirdevelo pment". 28Accordingly,inhisbookRightsofM an
(1791),acrit ique ofEdmundBurke" sReflectionsontheRevo luti onin France(1790), ThomasPaine categori callydeniedtheexistenceof aconstituti onofEngl and: A Constitutionisnotathin ginname only,bu tin fact.Ithas not anidea l,but arealexistence;andwhereveritca nnotbe producedinavis ible form,therei sno ne. A Constitutionisathingantecedentto aG overnment,andaGovernmen tis onlyth ecreatu reofaConstitu tion .T heConstitutionofacountryis nottheact of itsGo vernment,butofthepeoplecons tituting its Gover nment.Itis the bodyof elem ents,towhichyouca nre fer,andquot earticl ebyarti cle;andwhi ch24 Loewenstein,aboven.18,133 .
25 HenryStJo hn,1st ViscountBo lingb roke,ADisser tationUponParties(1733 -34)
in TheWo rksofthe Late RightHonour ableHenry St.John,Lor dViscount Bolingbroke...in EightVolume s,vol.III(J.Jo hnsonetal .,Lon don18 09)157 (emphasisadded). SeeMohnhaup t&Grimm ,aboven.13,48.26 Forthis backgroun dofLordBolingbroke"s views, seeAdamTo mkins,PublicLaw
(OUP200 3),5.27 StatementbytheMinis ter for PoliticalandConst itutional Reform,MrMark
HarperMP, Houseof CommonsDebates vol 511,col519w,17 June2010,quoted in: ColinTurpi n&AdamTomk ins, BritishGov ernmentandtheConst itution:Textan dMaterial s(7thedn.,CUP2012) ,45.
28 McIlwain,aboven.1 3,2.
498Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
containstheprin ciples onwhichtheGovernme ntsh allbeestabl ished,th eman- neri nwhic hitshallbeorg ani zed,thepowe rsit shallhave,themodeof elec- tions,the duration ofparliaments, orby whatothernamesuchbodies may be called;thepo werswhic htheexecut ivepartofth eGover nmentshallhave;a nd, in fine,ever ythingthat relatestoth ecompl eteorganizatio nof aCiv il Government,andthepr inciple sonwhi chitshallact,andbywh ich itshallbe bound.ACo nsti tution,therefore,istoaGo vernment,whatthelaw smade af- terwardsbytha tGo vernmentar etoaCourtofJudicature .TheC ou rtof Judicaturedoesnot maketh elaws, neithercan italte rthem;iton lyactsincon- formitytothela wsma de;and theGo vernmentis inlikem annerg overnedby theCon stitution. Canth enMr. Burkeproduc etheEngli shConstitution ?Ifhe cannot,wemay fairlyconcl ude,thatthoughithas beenso muchtalkedabo ut, nosuchth ingas a Constitutionexists,oreve rdidexist,an dco nsequentlyth attheP eoplehave yeta Cons titutiontoform.[...] Thecontin ualuseofthewordC onstitu tion in theEn glishParliame ntshowsthereisnone;an dthatthew holeismerely af orm of Governmentwithouta Constitution,an dco nstitutingitselfwithwhat powersitpl eas es. 2920.Pa ine"sundersta ndingofaconstitutionasa"bo dyof elem ents,towhichyoucan
refer,andqu ote articlebyar ticle"hasbecome soge nerallyacceptedth atin1965 ProfessorLoewenste incouldsaythatit"isbe sidethe point"to distingui shbe twee n thew rittenandtheunwri ttencons titution because"[p]ractica llyallconstitutionsof todayare written, andtheclassof thoseunw rittenis represented only byGreatBritain,NewZea land,an dFrancoSpain".
30Meanwhile,thatlatt erclass hasbecome
evensm aller,withSpain adoptingaw ritten constitutionafte rth eendofthedictator- shipin 1978 ,andNewZ ealand codifyin gandreformingits constitutionallawin theConstitutionActof1986
31andth eBillof RightsAc tof 1990. 32
"Paine"snoti onthat
29 Paine,above n.1,29-30 ,84(emph asisintheorigi nal).
30 Loewenstein,aboven.18,13 7.Theauthor didnotmen tionIsrael which alsodid
and stilldoes nothave awritten constituti on(b utaseriesof"bas iclaws"thesuperi- orityof which overother statutory lawiscon troversial).See,e.g .,SuzieNav ot,TheConstitutionofIsrael (Hart 2014),chs.1 and2.
31 "AnAc ttoreform the constituti onallaw ofNewZealand,tobringtogether into
one enactmentcertainpr ovisionsofco nstitutionalsignificance, andto providethat the NewZea landConstitut ionAct1852oftheParliament ofthe UnitedKin gdom shallcea setohave effec taspart ofthelawof New Zealand", 13Dec ember1986,PublicAc t1986N o114.
32 "AnAc t-(a)toaffirm, prote ct,andpromote humanrightsandfunda menta lfree-
domsin New Zealand; and(b)toaffirmNew Zeala nd"scommi tment tothe InternationalCovenanton CivilandPolitica lRi ghts"of 28Aug ust1990,PublicAct 1990No 109.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 499
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
theon lytrueco nstituti onisoneconsciouslycons truct ed",Mc Ilwainobservedin1940,"conf ormsprobablymore closelythananyot hertoth eactualdeve lopment in
thew orldsincethe openingofth eninete enthcentury.[...] Writtenconstituti ons creating,defining, andlimitinggove rnments sincethenhavebe enthegeneralrulein almostthe whole oftheconstituti onal world. " 3321.H owever,ithasoftenand rig htlybeen remarkedth ata significantpartof
GreatBrit ain"sconstitutional orderisindeedwrittenbecau seitisarticul ated instatu- toryfor m. 34Suchst atutesaddressing constitutionalmatter srangefromMagnaCarta andth e1689Bi llofRigh tstothe Parl iamentActs of19 11and19 49,theCrown ProceedingsActof19 47,the Parl iamentaryComm issioner Actof1967andthe
EuropeanCommun itiesActof1972.
35As ProfessorLoughlin remarked,addres sing
roughlythela stthirty years:"We haveinsome haphazardway codifi edmanyof the rulesand inthatse nse areclos erthaneverto havinga 'writtencons titution "". 3622.T herefore,itappearsthatwh atma ttersisnotso muchth edistinc tionbetween
a writtenandanunw ritten (or a"codified"andan"uncodified") constitu tion 37as suchbu trather theconsequen ceofthe absenceofadefinedco nsti tutional text,ele- vatedtoa stat usabo ve"ordinary" law,for theissueofthesupr emacyofth econsti tu- tionand the enforcem entofthatsupremacybym ean soflaw. ProfessorTomkins approvinglyquotedhi scolleaguesFi ner,Bogd anorandRuddenw hoobserved that theBr itish"constituti onismarkedbythreestrikin gfe atures:itis inde terminate,in - distinct,andun entrenche d", 38
and wentonto comm ent onthatobservatio nas follows: Thecon stitutionissaidtobe indeterminatebecausenota llofits rulesar ecl ear: somear evague .[...] Thecon stitutionissaidtobeindistinctbecauseconst itu- tionallaw isnot sharply demarca tedfromothera reasoflaw.[...][I]nthe Englishlegal system[...] thereisnosp eci al significanceattach edtotheadjec- tive"cons titutional".It makesnolega ldi fferencewhet heraruleisdescri bedascon- stitutionalornot.[...] Finally,theconsti tutioni ssaidtobeunentrenched
33 McIlwain,aboven.1 3,15.
34 See,e.g., Loewenstein, aboven.18,137-38,an d,morerec ently,Antho nyKing,The
BritishConst itution(OUP2007),5-6.
35 SeeTurpi n&Tomkins,ab oven.2 7,5.
36 MartinLoughlin, TheBritishConst itut ion:AVerySh ortIntroduction(OUP
2013),4.Se eal soibid., 107:"Unsure ofourcustoms, wehavebe enobliged towr ite
downm oreandmore ofthesepr acticesin rules andregulatio ns."Forthecodific a- tionof conve ntionsoftheconstitution s,see Turpi n&Tomkins,aboven.27,182- 89.37 Thela tterphrasesar epreferredby Tomkins, aboven.26,7.
38 Tomkins,aboven.2 6,16,quotin gS.E.Fin er, VernonBogdano r&Berna rd
Rudden,Compa ringConstitutions(Cl arendonPress1995),40.500Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
becausethere isnothingin itth atcannotbecha nge d.[ ...]Wehavealready notedthe doctrine ofthesovereig nty ofParli ament.Thisdoctrineprov ides that Parliamenthaslegis lativeom ni-competence.Inshort, Parliamentmaymakeor un-makeanyla wwhat soever, andnobodyhasthepowerto override ortoset asidePar liament"slegislation. 3923.Parliamentary sovereignty,described by A.V.Diceyas" theveryk eystoneof the
law ofthe constitution", 40meansthat"thereisnosourceoflawhigherthan-i.e., more authoritativethan-anAc tofP arliament". 41
"Parliamentmaybystatute make or unmake anyl aw,includinga law[ ...] thatalters afundamenta l principleofthe com- mon law." 42
Inotherwords,ActsofParliamentarenot subjecttoconstitutional limita- tions. Tothat extent,B ritaindoes notknowt hedistinction between pouvoirconsti tuant andpouvoirconstit ue´famouslyproc laimedbytheAbbe ´Sieye`sat theb eginningof the
FrenchRevolution.
43AsM artinLoughlinremarked,it is "through theconseq uentab- senceof aconcepto fconstituen tpowerin modern Britishconstitutionalarrangements that wea rebestable toapprec iateits peculiarcharacter" . 44
If thatis thec asea nd"every
law canbelegally changed withequa leaseor with equaldiffic ulty ,therearise snoa bso- lute needfor reducing theconstitution toawritten form,or evenfor looking upona definiteseto fl awsa sspeciallymakingup theconstitution" (Dicey). 45Accordingly, no
39 Tomkins,aboven.2 6,16-17(em phasisad ded).
40 A.V.Di cey,Introductiontoth eStudyoftheLawof the Constituti on(firstpu b-
lished188 5,E.C.S.Wad eed.,10t hedn.,Ma cmillanand StMartin"s Press1959) , 70.41 Turpin&To mki ns,aboven.27,59.
42 Ibid.Itsho uldbe addedth atto day,forava rietyofth eoreticalandpr acticalrea sons,
the doctrineofthe sove reigntyof Parliamentisnotunchalleng edamo ngBritishlegal scholars,judges andpolitici ans. However,itseemstobeco rrecttosaythat"[f]or the timebei ng[...], parliamentarysovereignty remainsformallyintact asamatterof law.[I] tcontinu estoembodyaconside rable andwide-ra nging power"(ibid.,95).43 SeeEmm anuel-JosephSieye`s,Qu"est -cequeletierse´ tat?(firstpublished 1789,EditionsduBo ucher 2002),53(Chap itre5):"Dan scha quepartie,laconst itut ionn"estpa sl"ouvrag edupouvoirconstit ue´ ,maisdupouvoi rconstituant.Aucunesortede pouvoirde´le´gue´ nepe utriencha ngeraux conditionsdesa de´le´gation.C"estain si
et nonau trementqueleslois const itutionne llessont fondamentales.»["Inallofits parts,the constituti onisnottheworkofth eco nstituted powerbut oftheconst itu- ent power.Notyp eof delegated power canchangethecon ditionsof delegation .For thatrea sonandnoot herare the constituti onal lawsfunda mental."]44 SeeMar tinLoughlin &NeilWalker,Introd uction ,in:Marti nLoughlin&N eil
Walker(eds. ),TheParadoxof Const itutionalism: Const ituentPowerand ConstitutionalForm(OUP20 07),1,5, withrefere ncetoMartinLou ghli n, ConstituentPowerSub verted:Fro mEnglishConstituti onalArgu menttoBriti shConstitutionalPractice,ib id.,27-48.
45 Dicey,aboven.4 0,90.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 501
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
British courtcanreview anAc to fP arliamentwithr espect toitsconformity withthe constitution-there isno judicialreview similar tothe reviewofstatutes pa ssedby Congressexerci sedbytheAmericancou rts,or tothele gislativerevi ewentru stedtospe- cial constitutionalcourts in mostEuropea nstates: "nocourtoro therbodymayo ver- ride orset aside anyActof Parliament". 46It istrue, there isasubstantiveconstitution of
the UnitedKingdom, butitse xistencedepends entirelyonits cons tantsupportby the political forces,and itsshape "a tanytimeisdeterminedbytherel atio ns hipsbetween the Government,Parliament, and thecourts". 47The substantiveandt he" working"
constitution concur. 48Sincethe reisnoclear bou ndary between" law"and"c onstitu- tion"," legality"and"constitutionality", 49
the BritishConstitutioncannot beconsid- eredan orma tiveorlegalstand ardestab lishing"be nchmarksagainstw hichtheactions of governmentsa ndindividualscan betested" 50
.
24.It isthis situationtha thasl edacademicobse rverst odistinguish a"poli ticalcon-
stitution"from a" legal constituti on",associatingtheformerwithEnglandandBritai n: Apoliticalconstitut ionis onei nwhicht hose whoexercisepoliti calpower(le tus saythe government) areheldtocon stitut ional account throughpoliticalmeans, andt hroughpolitic alinstitutions(forex ample,Parliament).T hus,gover nment ministersandse niorciv ilservantsmi ghtbesubjecte dtoregularscru tinyin Parliament.Thescrutiny maycon sistoftakingparti ndeb ates,answering qu es- tions,part icipatinginandrespondingt othei nvestig ationsofcommitteesof in- quiry,and soforth .Alegalcons titution, onth eotherh and,isonewhichimagines thatthe princ ipalmeans,andthepri ncipalinstitu tion,thro ughwhi chthegov- ernmentisheld toaccoun tist hela wandthe court-r oom.[...] Traditionally, Englishpublic lawhasbeenba sedon thepol iticalcons titution[...]. 5146 Tomkins,aboven.2 6,102.Fo rananaly sisofth eEuropean (cent ralized)modelof
judicialreviewin compariso nwit htheUnitedStatesmode l,seeVictor Ferreres Comella,Constit utionalCourtsandDemocraticVal ues(YaleUnive rsity Press2009).
47 JAGGriffi th,TheCommonLa wandthePo liticalConstit ution,11 7La w
QuarterlyReview(20 01),42, 64.
48 Seeibid .,50(emphasis adde d):"Outofthesepa ratepowersandfunct ions ofthe
threeins titutionsandthecompl exity oftheirre lationswithoneanotherhas emerg ed thewor kingConstituti on."49 SeeKing, aboven.34, 9:"Oneconse quenceof thefac ttha tBritaindoesnothave a
[written]Constitu tionandthatnodistinctio nis madeinBr itish lawbetweenspecif- icallyconst itutionalmattersandothers isthattheword'u nconst itutional"has no precisemeanin gintheUK, ifind eedithasan ymeanin gat all."Thi ssta teme nt rephrasesthat ofDicey, above n.40,127.50 King,above n.34,9.
51 Tomkins,above n.26,18-19,21, withrefer encetoJAGGr iffith ,ThePoli tical
Constitution,42Modern LR(1 979),1,andAdamTom kins, InDefenceofthe502Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
25.T homasPainewould probablyhave replied thatthis"politica lconsti tution"is
nota cons titutionatall.Andhisap prai salisto dayshared bymanyBr itishcommenta- torson cons titutionallawandpolitics. 52ProfessorNeilW alkerrecent lydescribedthe
stateofth eBr itishC onstitutionasth atofa"constitutionalunsettlem ent": In anu tshell,weusedtoha vesome thingli kea settledcons titution,thoughi t meant,and continue stomean,verydiff eren tthingsto differe ntpeople;we then,quit erecently ,movedintothephase ofunsettledcon stituti on,but one whoseterm inushasofferedn eithera returntoasettle dconstitution nor arrival at an ew-andfortheUKun preceden ted-doc umen taryConstitutionalsettle- ment.Inst ead,theunsettle dconst itutionhasbecomeno rmalized-oratleast regularized-asastateofcon stit utionalunse ttle ment. 5326.Al ongthesam eline,Pr ofessorLoughli nconclud edhisanalysisofth eBritish
Constitutionpublishedin 2013bysayingthat "the traditio nal ideaofacons titution whichthe British havelongcelebrate dhasbeco mesocorr odedthatitnolongerpr o- videsaco here ntaccountofthena tureofBritis hg overnment ". 54Havingdesc ribed
thepr ocessesofconstituti onal modernizationandconstituti onalreformofthelast twodec ades,heexplaine dth at"ratherlateintheday ,theBr itishareat tempting toes - tablishaco nsti tutionalframeworkinaccordan cewithamoderntem pla te", 55andpr e- dictedthat , [w]hateveritsprec isecont ent,thiswillbe aconstitution thatlawyers have made.And inthi srespec titwillac cordwiththe stan dardtraject oryofconstitu- tionaldev elopment.[...] [W]earecr eatinga modern-stylec onst itutioninan incrementalandpragma ticfash ion.Thisnewsty leofconstitutioni scertainly intended[...] tobe wri ttenandprotect edbylaw. 56
27.T hevoices infavourofcreati nga writtenco nsti tutionfortheUn ited Kingdom
canbe sum marizedinthewordsofAn drew Blick: PoliticalConstit ution,22OxfordJournalof Legal Studies(2002),157 (emphasis added).See alsoGriffi th,TheCom monLaw,aboven.47, andMa ttQvortrup,"Let Me TakeYou toaForei gnLa nd": ThePoliticaland theLegalConst ituti on,in: MattQvo rtrup(ed.),Th eBritishConst itution: ContinuityandCh ange(Hart2013),55.
52 See,e.g., JoE.K.Mur kens, TheQu estfo rConstitution alis minUK PublicLa w
Discourse,29Oxfor dJo urnalofLegalStu dies(2009),427 ,43 4:"[TheUn ited Kingdom]hasnev erco mpletedth eevolutionarydeve lopmentto agarantisteorreal constitutionwhichplaces legallimit sonthe political powersofthest ate."53 NeilWalker ,OurConstitu tionalU nsettlement,[2014]PublicLa w529,529-30.
54 Loughlin,above n.36,116.Butsee ,much lesscriti cally, King,above n.34,345-65.
55 Loughlin,above n.36,117.
56 Ibid.,117-1 8.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 503
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
A writtenconstituti onwouldbeameansofatta ininggreat ercl ari ty,widera nd deeperdispe rsalofpower,andafir me r,moreenforce ablese tof principles andru les.Itcould [...] createasettle me ntthatwasanexpression ofthewillof thepe ople. 5728.So itse ems tobeaccurate toco nclud ewithLordJustic eLa wsthat"[i]nits present
stateofev olut ion,theBritishsyst emmay besaidtostandatan intermediate stagebe- tweenparl iamentarysupremacyandconsti tutionalsupremacy". 58IV. Theinternati onalconstitutionasa commonlaw constitution?
29.So mewriter sexplicitlylikened theconstitutionofth einternational community
to thatofEn glan dorGreatBrit ain, respectively.Fo rinstance,inhis bookOnGl obal OrderAndrewHurr ellwroteinth econtextofhisdes crip tionofa "pluralistviewof thean archicalsocietyofst ates"asananalyti cal framework:"Ifweca nta lkat allofthe constitutionofinternat iona lsociety,thenitismuchmo relikea commonlawcons titu- tion, thatisto say apat ternofin stit utionalprac tice s,laws,conventions,andpo litical normsthat together definehowasociet yiscons tituted. " 59In internationallegal
scholarship,asimilarvi eww asprominentl yexpres sedbyPr ofessorChristian Tomuschat,along-t imeme mberoftheIntern ationalLaw Co mmissi on:"Itisobvi- ousth attheco nstituti onoftheinternationalco mmun ity,ifit wasfoundtoexist, woulddisp layfeatureswhic harelargelysi milartothat oftheBr itishsystemofgo v- ernment." 60States,heexpl aine d,had"nevercomeco nsciousl ytogetherto establisha basiccove nantregulatingth einternationalpubli corder andsettingforththeguiding principlesforthe mainf unctions ofgovernance ". 61
Someye arslaterhe added,again
57 Blick,aboven.2 2,289.See alsoibid. ,212-21 ("AWri ttenConst itution:Proposal s
and Drafts")and226-38 ("The Positive Casefora WrittenConstituti on").Butsee King,ab oven.34,363 ("noneedfo ra writte nconstit ution"and "nopop ularde- mandfo reithera convention ora writtenconstitution") .58 InternationalTransportRo thvSecretaryofSta teforth eHom eDepartment[2002]
EWCACiv 158, [2003]Q B728[71](La wsLJ).
59 AndrewHurrell, OnGlobalOrd er:Po wer,Values,and theConstituti onof
InternationalSociety(OU P2007),53(em phasisad ded).Incont rast, Hurrellsees writings"urginga formofint ernat ionallegal const itutionalismbuiltaround theUN Charter"(ibi d.,80)asbelongi ngto a"li beralsolidaristconce ption ofint ernational society"(ibid .,57).Hedoes notendors eeit herofthese opposingvi ews.60 ChristianTomuschat, ObligationsArising forStatesWithoutO rAgainstTheir
Will,241 Colle ctedCoursesofthe HagueAcademy ofIn ternationa lLaw[1993],195,21 8.Foran earliereq uation ofinternational constitutional law withBritish
constitutionallaw,seeVerdro ss,Quellen, above n.5,18,21.61 Tomuschat,Obligation s,ibid.,218-19.
504Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
referringtotheUn ited Kingdom, that"[f]ailing apouvoirconstit uantat theinter na- tionalleve l,theconsti tutionof humankindcantakeshape only stepbystep,inaccor- dancewi ththewillof itsma incomp onen tactors, i.e.States". 62Theau thor
acknowledgedtheimporta nceofth eUNCharterasanexpr essi onofthe "comm on lawfor allSt ates "butpointedtoit s"distin ctionbetwee nme mbersan dnon-members of theOr ganization,whichinprinciple isincompatible wi thaquestforcompre hen- siveun iversality". 63He styledtheCh artera "worldordertrea ty", i.e.atreaty "protect- ingba sicinterests oftheinternation alco mmunity". 64
30.T odrawsu chananal ogybetw een theBritishand aninternationalco nstituti on
givesrise toanumb erof ques tions.Leavin ghe reasidethegeneralpr oblemofthedif- ferencebetween theconstitu tionofa sovereignstateandthat ofth ein ternational communityofstates (and othersubjects ofintern ational law),andthediffic ulty ofap- plyingaco ncept developedinth eframework ofth emodern statetointernational law, 65it would,firstof all,beas toni shingif ofal lstateconstitutionson eso uniq ueas theBr itish-aconstitution ofatypedeliberatelynotadoptedbyvi rtua llyanyother stateofth ewo rld-shou ldbethemodelofaninter nati onalcons titutionbinding on allst ates.Onemay, secondly ,alsowonder whetheraconstituti onofaso venerable ageas the British issuitedforsett inga patternfora constitu tionofthein tern ational communityofthetw enty- firstcent ury.But,thirdlyandmore importantly,the con- temporaryinternat ionalcommunityislackingal mostallthefeatures whic hmakethe
British"politica lconstitution"
66work,nam elydeeplyentrenc hedconstitu tionalval- uesw hichareaccept ed,uphe ldanddefendedbyallpo liticalinsti tuti onsinacontinu- ouspr ocessofpublicdis cussi onandaccoun tability."Thepoli ticalco nstitutionrelies on therigo urandthevigo urof thepoli ticalproces s." 67
Whatwo uldhappen tothe
internationallegalorder ifitwasle ftentirelyin the hand sofinternat ionalpo litics?62 ChristianTomuschat, InternationalLaw:Ens uringtheSurvivalofMan kindonth e
Eve ofa New Century, 281CollectedCourse softhe HagueAcademyofInternationalLaw[1999], 9,88 .
63 Tomuschat,Obligati ons,aboven.60,219.
64 Ibid.,248, 269.
65 Fora discu ssionofthatdifficult y,see BardoFassb ender,TheUnitedNat ions
Charterasthe Const ituti onoftheInternationalCommun ity(Ma rtinus Nijhoff2009),58-64 ,82-85(drawing onMaxWeb er"snotionof the "ideal type"),and
UlrichK. Preuss ,Disconnect ingConstitutionsfromStatehoo d,in:PetraDobner& MartinLoughl in(eds.),The TwilightofConst itutional ism?(OUP2010 ),23 -46. For am oreskeptical view,seeDieterGrimm ,TheAchie vement of ConstitutionalismanditsProspects ina Chang edWorld,ibid.,3- 22,and his earlier articleTheCon stit utionintheProcessofDenat ional izati on,aboven.16 (argu ing thatso farth ereis nosubject orent ityon thegloballe veltha tisqual ified tobe constitutionalized).66 Seeab ovetextac companying n.51.
67 Tomkins,aboven.2 6,20.
Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 505
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
Couldsuch aconsti tuti onallawfosterthecommongood ofallme mbersofthe inter- nationalcommuni ty?Furthermore,ifind eedtheinternationalco nsti tutioncorre- spondedtothe Brit ishitw ouldlackadeci sive featurecharacte rizingth e"mo dern" constitutionoftheAmer ican -French type,i.e.itssupremacyover"ordin ary"lawand theen forceabilityofthatsupremacy byme ansoflaw. 68In otherword s,thenotionof
constitutionsoapplied toin ternationallaw wo uldbeempty.Andexactlythat isex- plicitlyadmit tedbyTomuschat: [A]su bstantiveconceptofcons titution,asoppo sed tothemoreclear-cutcon- ceptof con stitutionintheformalsense ,[ ...] constitutesnomorethanan aca- demicrese archtoolsuitedto focusat tentiononth esu bstantivesp ecifitiesofa particulargroupofl egalnorms .No additional legalconsequences ma ybeat- tachedtoth ec haracte rizationofaruleofinternationalla was pert ainingratione materiaeto thecon stitutionofhumankind. 6931.G iventhedifficu ltiesin theBritishlegalorderof ident ifyingru lesofconstitutional
lawin cont radistinctiontolawofanon-consti tuti onalchar acte r,an dofdistinguish- ingru lesofcons titu tionallawfromco nstitutionalruleswhichdo nothavelega lforce, it isev endoubtf ulwhetheracons titutionalconcept borr owedfromEnglandisause- ful"ac ademicresearchto ol"ininternatio nallaw.32.I f,ther efore,theanalogydraw nbetwe entheBritish( orEnglish) constitu-
tionan dtheco nstitu tionoftheinternationalcommuni tyis rather unpersuasive, theq uestionensueswheth erwecanimagi ne,detachedfr omth eBrit ishmodel,an unwritteninternational constitution,o racons titution "a sanensembleof[written and unwritten]rules, procedures andmechanismsdesigned toprotect collectivein- terestsofhu mank ind". 70By necessity,theun writtenp artsofsuchlatt erconstitu- tion,t otheextent thattheyhave lega lf orce,would haveto berulesof customary international law,whe reasthewrittenrulesw ouldhavetobelocated inthefirst placei ninter nationaltreatylaw,inparticular treatiesreferre dtoa s" worldorder treaties".
33.Bu thowco uldthe specificqual ityofco nstitutionallaw beattributedtoru les
of internationalcustomaryandtre atylaw?Tothos enegat ingtheexis tenceof a"for- mal"co nstitutionoftheinternat iona lcommun ityinthesenseofawritten document, theon lypossibl ewayistheex pressrecog niti onofaco nstitutionalqual ityofthere- spectiverules bythemember sof theinte rnationalcomm unity .Inother words,the opiniojuris of statesnecess arytomakeacertain prac ticeorbehavi our aruleof68 Seetext above,pa ra.22.Fortheis sueofahi erarch yofnorms inint ernational law as
an elementofaco nstit ution alunderstandingofthatlaw,see Fassbender,above n.65,10 3-07,123-28.69 Tomuschat,Internation alLaw,aboven.62,88.
70 Ibid.
506Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
customarylawwould havetoenc ompassa senseof cons titutionalentitle ment or obligation-itwouldhaveto beanopiniojuris constitu tionis. 71In thestyl eofArticle
53 ofth eVienn aConventionon theLawofTreatiesabou tpe remptory normsof
generalintern ationallaw(jus cogens) onecoul dsaythata constitu tionalno rmof inter- nationallawin thatsens eis anormac ceptedandre cogn ized assuchby theinterna- tionalcomm unityofstateswhich can bemodified onlybyasubs equentno rmof internationallawhavingthe samecha racter. Unfortu nately,ther eisnoempiricallyre- cordableacknow ledgmentbystatesofsuchcustoma ryco nstitutional rule sofinter na- tionallaw. Asfaras Ise e,nogove rnme nthas everinan yfor malprocesssubscribe dto suchru les.Aquest for normswhich couldbesa idtohavebeen informallyac ceptedas constitutionalinthatway,for inst ancethe principl eof sovereignequalit yofstat es,or thepr ohibitionoftheuseof forc eininte rnational rela tions,leadsst raig htawaytotheUN Charter
72-thatispr ecis elythedocumentthe constitu tionalqualityof whichis deniedbyth epr oponents ofanunwritteninte rnat iona lconstitution."Byconsti tu- tionwe mean" ,saidLordBo lingbrok e,thatla w"accordingtowhichtheco mmunity hathag reedtobegover ned ". 73
I dono tseeho wthein ternatio nalcomm unitycanbe
saidto have agreedto anunwrittenco nsti tuti on.34.T oadda further thou ght,thedevelopm entofinternational lawsinc ethenine-
teenthcent ury,andparticula rlysinc e1945,hasbeencharacte rizedbyanin creasingly intensifiedprocess ofcodification,i.e ."th emorepreciseformulat ionand systemati za- tion",inwr itte nform,"ofrules ofinternatio nalla winfieldswher eth erealreadyhas beenex tensivestatepractice ,precede ntanddoctrine", 74withth eaimof "achievin g an internationallexsc riptathroughthein ternatio nalequivalentofalegislative pro- cess". 75
SirG eraldFitzmaur iceevendescribedcodification asthe"o nlyoneremedy" of ade epdivisi onofviewsastothe cont entofma nyru lesof internati onallaw- codification,heasserted, "will attractthatbroa dmeas ureofoverallasse ntthatal one
71 Iow ethiste rmtomydo ctoralstude ntOli verLoh mannwhoiswriti ngadisserta-
tionab outtheinterpret ation ofinternationalconstituti onal law.72 See,e.g., LuigiCondo relli,Cust omaryInternationalLa w:TheYesterday,Today,
and TomorrowofGener alInt ernationalLaw, in:AntonioCassese(ed.),Rea lizing Utopia:TheFut ureof Internation alLa w(OUP2012),147,with referenceto jus cogensrules:"This setof'const ituti onal rules"ismadeupofrulesthatare allcon- nectedtopr incip lesoftheUNCharterand const itute their logical,ideo logical,and valueex tension."73 Emphasisadded. Forthefull quotation, seeabove textaccom panyingn.25.
74 SeeArt .15ofth eSt atute oftheIn ternationalLaw Commis sion;An nextoGeneral
AssemblyResol ution174(II)of21 November 1947.
75 OscarSchac hter,TheNatureandPro cess ofLegalDevelopm ent inInternationa l
Society,in:R. St.J. Macdon ald &Dou glasM.Johnston(ed s.), TheStructureand ProcessofInt ernat ionalLaw(MartinusNijho ff19 86),745,773.Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 507
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
canan chorrules,in ternationall y,inthefirmbidofauthority". 76Giventhe magni-
tudeof codi ficationperformedbytheIn ternationalLawC om mission 77andot her bodiesinth epas tsixty yearson theonehand, andtheoutst andin gimport anceofis - sueswh ichcanbead dressed asth oseofaninternational cons titutionalla won the otherha nd,itwould beas tonishingifcu stom aryrulesofsuchlaw, prov idedtheydo exist,had beenexcl udedfrom thatcodification. Infact, in1949Pr ofessorHersch Lauterpacht,inamem ora ndum writtenfortheOfficeofLega lAffairsoftheUn ited Nations,hadpr oposedth attheILCcodify notonly subjects likethe jurisdiction of states,orthe law oftreatie s,butal sowh athecalled"thege neralpa rtofinte rnationa l law": In sofa rasthe fun ctionof theCommission emb racesth eeventualcodification of internationallawasawhole ,itwill ben ece ssaryforitto con siderwh ethe rit mayno tbeinc umbe ntuponittoattemptaf ormulation, inth eformofdraft ar- ticles,ofwh at maybedescribed asthe gene ralpartofinternatio nallaw. Some of thegre atmunicipal codescontainintro ductoryand generalarticle softhisna- turefo rmulatingthebasesandth eprinc iplesofthe legalsy stemas awhole-in particularwithregar dtothe subjectsofthela w,it ssource s,anditsrelat ion to theva riousbranches ofthelaw.Itispr obab lethat, bothforprac tic alanddo ctri- nalre asons,anauthorit ativ estatementofthelawofth isnaturewouldbeof considerableusefulness inthesphereofinternat ionall aw. 78
35.H owever,withtheexce ptionofthe "DraftDe clarationonRights and Dutiesof
States"adopte dbytheILCatit sfir stsessio n
79butno tfavou rablyreceivedbythe
UN GeneralAssembly,
80thepla npresen tedbyProfessorLaut erpa chthasremained unfulfilled.There arecertainly manyreas onsaccountingforth at,but oneofthemap- pearstobe ala ckof agre ementam ong statesastotheexact definitionofru lesabout
76 SirGe raldFitzmaurice, EnlargementoftheCon tentiousJurisdict ion oftheCou rt,
in: LeoGro ss(ed.),TheFu tureoftheInt ernat ionalCourtofJus tice (Oceana1976),vol. 2,461,46 6-67; seeSchacht er,aboven.75, 780.
77 Foranove rview ,seeSirArthurW atts,Cod ificat ionandProgressiv eDevelopment
of InternationalLaw,in:Max PlanckEnc yclope diaofPu blicInternatio nalLaw(on- lineed n.,http:// opil.ouplaw.com),para.15.78 Surveyofint ernat ionallawinrelationtoth eworkof codifi cationofthe
InternationalLawCommis sion.Mem orandumsubmittedbytheSe cretary-General. UN Doc.A/CN .4/1/Rev.1of10February1949,19 para. 26.Rep rintedin:Hersc h Lauterpacht,Internation alLaw,vol.I(E.Laute rpachted .,CUP1970) ,445 ,469 para.26.79 YearbookoftheIn terna tionalLaw Commission1949,287-90.
80 SeeUNGe neral AssemblyResoluti on375(IV)of 6December1949,Yearb ookof
theU nitedNations194 8-49,948-49.508Chinese JIL(2016)
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
"theba sesandthe principl esofthe legalsystem". 81In otherword s,constitutional is-
suesof the internat ionalcommunityhavenotbeen codifiedbecausethere islittle if anyun writtenconstitutional lawacceptedbywayofcustom thatissu itedfor codification.V. TheUN Charteras thewritten constitutionof the
international community36.In my ownwork ,asma ybrieflybere calle d,Ihavetrie dtogivethe idea ofanin-
ternationalconstitu tionallawamoreconsistentand alsomore conc retemean ingby closelyassoci atingitwiththeUNCh arte rasage nerally accepted sourceofpositive internationallaw. 82To borrowlanguag efromNeilWa lker,th ishasbeenanef fortto invokethe United Nations(Chart er)"asapointofrefe renceforthework ofre form andre -imaginationofinternationalco nsti tutionalism",andtocreate,onth eglobal level,"asu itabl yfocusedcontex tofaction". 83
Drawingespe ciallyonthewritings of
Verdross,Ihavesu gges tedthat theCharter,although formallycr eatedas atreaty,is characterizedbyaconsti tuti onal qualitywhichinthecourseof thelastseventy years hasbe enconfirm edandstrengthened insu chawaythattodaytheinst rum entcan be referredtoasth e(b oth substant iveandform al)constitutionofthein ternatio nalcom- munity. 84TheC hartershowsanumbe rofstrongco nsti tutionalfeat ures .In
81 See,e.g., thestat ementsby therepresentativesofth eUn itedKing dom,Polandand
Peruat the GeneralAss emblyplenarymee tingon6Decemb er1949inrespe ctof the DraftDe clarationonRightsandDut iesof States:"Theyfel tthatto recommend the existingdraftDecla rationasa sourceoflawatthe prese ntst agewouldbe quite premature".Yearboo koftheUnitedN atio ns1948-49 ,948.82 Thefo llowingsentencesare partlyadaptedfrom Bardo Fassbender,"Weth e
Peoplesofth eUn itedNa tions":Constituen tPowerandConstituti onalFormin InternationalLaw,in:Mar tinLough lin &NeilWalker(ed s.),TheParadoxof Constitutionalism:ConstituentPowe randConstitutional Form(OUP2007) ,269 ,281-82.Seefur ther BardoFassbende r,Rediscov eringaForgottenConstit ution:
Noteson thePl aceof theUNChart erin theInt ernat ionalLegalOrder, in:Dun off & Trachtman,aboven.11, 133,137-4 1.83 SeeNei lWalker, MakingaWor ldofDifference ?H abermas,Cosmop olita nismand
the ConstitutionalizationofInternationalLaw,in: O.A. PayrowShabani(ed.), MulticulturalismandLaw(Univ ersit yofWal esPress2007),219,s.4(b ).84 SeeFas sbender,aboven.2,53 1,andFassb ender,ab oven.65,1, 116. Forscholar-
shipin suppor tofaconstitu tiona lqu alityoftheUNCharter,see,in particular, RonaldSt.Jo hnMac donald,The InternationalCommunit yas aLegal Community,in:Ronal dSt. JohnMacdonald& Dougl asM.Johns ton(eds.), TowardsWorld Constituti onalism(MartinusNijhoff2005),85 3,859-68;Thomas M. Franck,Isthe U.N. Chartera Constituti on?,in:Jochen A.Fro weinetal.(eds.), Verhandelnfu¨r denFrieden- Negotiat ingforPeace: Libe rAmicorumTonoEitel (Springer2003), 95,96-99;Thoma sM .Franck,Prefa ce,in:Dunoff& Trachtman,Fassbender,Internati onalConstitutionalLaw 509
at Universität St. Gallen on December 13, 2016http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
particular,itinclud es(e xplicitlyandimpl icitly)rulesaboutho wtheba sicfunctionsof governanceareperfo rmedinth einternational comm unity;th atistosay,howandby whomth elawis madeand appli ed,and howandby whomlegalclaims areadju di- cated.Ital soes tablishe sahierarchyofnormsinin tern ationallaw.Furth er, Ihave triedto demo nstratethatbyunderstand ingthe Char terasaconstitutionwega ina standardthatpe rmitsad equate(legal)solut ionstoissuessuch astheinterp retationof theC harter,therelati onshipbet weenitslawand"general internationa llaw",th e meaningofsta teso vereign tyincontemporaryinternat iona llaw, 85UN reform,
86and thequ estionoftheexte ntto whichth eUNSecurity Coun cilisbound byintern a- tionallaw. 87
37.I also soughtto explainthatadd ress ingtheUNCh arteras aconstitutiondoes
notle adtoequa ting theCharterwitha stateco nstitution. Thecons titu tionalideain internationallawmustbeunder stoo dasanaut onom ousconceptratherthan anex - trapolationfromnat ionalconsti tutionallaw.Inac cordancewiththeprincipleof sub- sidiarity,whichregu latestheall ocationofcompeten ciesina multilevelsystemof governance,aconstitu tion oftheinternationalcomm unity shallno tandneednot replicateanation alco nstitution.Inste ad,itscontentdependsonthesp ecifictasks andre sponsibilitiesoftheinternatio nal communit y.Sincethosetasksandresp onsibil- itiesare different fromthoseofana tionalbo dypoliticor gani zed forcivilrulean dgov- ernment,there spective constitutionalrules mustdiffer.Inparticular,theta skof maintainingandrest oringin ternationalpeace,i.e .peacebetweenindependentpoliti - calco mmunities,isataskpeculiar toth ein ternatio nalcommunity.38.T hedrafters oftheCharter deli berately styledtheirworka"Ch arter",thereby
choosinganam ew hichdenotes anespeciallyeleva tedclassof lega linstruments. 88In modernEng lishlaw,aChar terisadeed grant edonlybytheCr own, inth eform of letterspate ntundertheG reatSe al,ofsp ecialpowers,ri ghts,privileg esand immuni- ties. 89
On hisacce ssiontothethrone, Henry Iissued th