The past and promise of doctrinal constructivism: A strategy for responding to the challenges facing constitutional scholarship in Europe

International Journal of Constitutional Law

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 364-400

  von Bogdandy, Armin ^a  

^a GOETHE UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67650564910     PISSN: 14742640     EISSN: 14742659     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/icon/mop009     Document Type: Article

References (102)

1. Presidency Conclusions, Barcelona European Council point 47 (Mar. 15 and 16, 2002).
2. The authors of IPE, supra note *, Vol. II part 1: Karl-Peter Sommermann, Catherine Haguenau-Moizard, Julia Iliopoulus-Strangas, Partrick Birkinshaw and Martina Künnecke, Carlo Panara, Ramses A. Wessels and Wim E. van de Griendt, Christoph Grabenwater, Stanislaw Biernat, Joakim Nergelius, Helen Keller, Antonio López Castillo, Pál Sonnevend, Peter M. Huber.
3. PATRICK S. ATIYAH & ROBERT S. SUMMERS, FORM AND SUBSTANCE IN ANGLO-AMERICAN LAW : A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEGAL REASONING, LEGAL THEORY, AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS (Oxford Univ. Press 1987)
4. see, for the American perspective, STEPHEN M. FELDMAN, AMERICAN LEGAL THOUGHT FROM PREMODERNISM TO POSTMODERNISM 162-187 (Oxford Univ. Press 2000).
5. ERNEST GELLNER, NATIONS AND NATIONALISM 34 (Cornell Univ. Press 1983).
6. Jouanjan, Frankreich, in 1 IPE, supra note *, §2 2¶8.
7. Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, May 9, 2008, 2008 O.J. (C 115/15) 6. The provision states: "The Union shall respect the equality of Member States before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional, inclusive of regional and local self-government."
8. The project of the European University Institute in Florence seeks to supply up-and-coming European law scholars with a primarily European socialization. After some initial difficulties, the institute appears to be increasingly successful in establishing itself; however, it remains to be seen whether this will become the basis for a European legal scholarship unhampered by "epistemic nationalism."
9. See especially NIKLAS LUHMANN, RECHTSSYSTEM UND RECHTSDOGMATIK [LEGAL SYSTEM AND LEGAL DOCTRINE] 13 (Kohlhammer 1974).
10. The German Constitution contains a specific guarantee of Wissenschaftsfreiheit: Grundgesetz [GG] art. 5, §3; similarly on the inclusion of legal scholarship (and theology): Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Dec. 18, 2000 (C 364/01) 13
11. Christian Starck, in 1 GG KOMMENTAR [COMMENTARY TO THE GG] art. 5, §3, marginal note 354 (Hermann von Mangoldt ed., 5th ed., Vahlen 2005).
12. Cf. especially IMMANUEL KANT, DER STREIT DER FAKULTÄTEN [THE DISPUTE OF THE FACULTIES] 89-107 (Horst D. Brandt & Piero Giordanetti eds., Meiner 2005) (1798).
13. I was surprised to find the School of Law of the University of Warwick in the Social Studies Building; a German law faculty would certainly resist such housing. A common understanding is to put social sciences and law side by side. In Spain for example, a widespread denomination is "Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Juridicas."
14. In the United States the situation appears to differ as far a constitutional law is concerned due to the importance of originalism.
15. On the special role of ius publicum in Germany, see MICHAEL STOLLEIS, GESCHICHTE DES ÖFFENTLICHEN RECHTS IN DEUTSCHLAND [HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAW IN GERMANY], VOL. 1 REICHSPUBLIZISTIK UND POLICEYWISSENSCHAFT 1600-1800 [PUBLIC LAW OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND SCIENCE OF PUBLIC ORDER 1600-1800] 49 (C.H. Beck 1988). Core authors were Hermann Conring (1606-1681) and Johann Jakob Moser (1701-1785).
16. Duncan Kennedy, The Structure of Blackstone's Commentaries, 28 BUFF. L. REV. 205 (1979).
17. Fioravanti, 2 IPE, supra note *, §31 ¶¶ 1-12.
18. Lipowicz, id. §34 ¶¶ 30-52.
19. Pilafas, id. 2§9 ¶27.
20. Heuschling, id. §28 ¶¶ 4-13, 24.
21. García-Pechuán, id. §37 ¶¶ 1-12.
22. Heuschling, id. §28 ¶12.
23. For a more detailed discussion, see Kennedy, supra note 14
24. Michael Stolleis, Wie entsteht ein Wissenschaftszweig? [How Does a Branch of Science Develop?], in UMWELT, WIRTSCHAFT UND RECHT [ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY AND LAW] 1, 1-13 (Hartmut Bauer ed., Mohr Siebeck 2002).
25. For a classic article, expressing Aristotelian-based doubts thereon, see JULIUS HERMANN VON KIRCHMANN, DIE WERTLOSIGKEIT DER JURISPRUDENZ ALS WISSENSCHAFT [THE WORTHLESSNESS OF THE JURISPRUDENCE AS SCIENCE] (Meyer-Tscheppe ed., Mauritius Verlag 1988) (1848).
26. CARL FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON GERBER, UEBER OEFFENTLICHE RECHTE [ON PUBLIC LAWS] (Mohr 1913) (1852)
27. CARL FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON GERBER, GRUNDZUEGE EINES SYSTEMS DES DEUTSCHEN STAATSRECHTS [MAIN FEATURES OF A SYSTEM OF GERMAN STATE LAW] (Tauchnitz 1865)
28. PAUL LABAND, DAS STAATSRECHT DES DEUTSCHEN REICHES [THE STATE LAW OF THE GERMAN REICH] (Laupp 1876-1882). Georg Jellinek moved this project in a more liberal direction, providing the conceptual basis for individual rights against the state: GEORG JELLINEK, GESETZ UND VERORDNUNG [LAW AND REGULATION] (photo. reprint 1919) (1887)
29. GEORG JELLINEK, SYSTEM DER SUBJEKTIVEN ÖFFENTLICHEN RECHTE [SYSTEM OF SUBJECTIVE PUBLIC RIGHTS] (2d ed., Mohr 1919) (1892).
30. Excluding court judgments, administrative acts, and related communicative acts.
31. On the philosophical background of this scholarly agenda, see JOACHIM RÜCKERT, IDEALISMUS, JURISPRUDENZ UND POLITIK BEI FRIEDRICH CARL VON SAVIGNY [IDEALISM, JURISPRUDENCE AND POLITICS WITH FRIEDRICH CARL VON SAVIGNY] 232-299 (1984).
32. Using exactly this reasoning, VON KIRCHMANN, supra note 22, at 29, argues the worthlessness of jurisprudence as a science.
33. For a classic on this topic, see MAX WEBER, WIRTSCHAFT UND GESELLSCHAFT [ECONOMY AND SOCIETY] 825-837 (5th ed., Mohr Siebeck 2002) (1922).
34. Charoula Argyriadis, Saripolos, Nikolaos N., in JURISTEN : EIN BIOGRAPHISCHES LEXIKON VON DER ANTIKE BIS ZUM 20. JAHRHUNDERT [JURISTS: A BIOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. FROM ANTIQUITY THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY] 538-539 (Michael Stolleis ed., Beck 1995)
35. G.D. Daskalakis, Die Verfassungsentwicklung Griechenlands [The Development of the Constitution of Greece], 24 JAHRBUCH DES ÖFFENTLICHEN RECHTS (JÖR) 266, 317 (1937) (F.R.G).
36. J. T. BUIJS, DE GRONDWET, TOELICHTING EN KRITIEK [THE CONSTITUTION, ANNOTATIONS AND CRITIC] (Gouda Quint 1883-1888).
37. CHRISTIAN NAUMANN, SVERIGES STATSFÖRFATTNINGS-RÄTT [STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF SWEDEN] (PANorstedt & Söner 1844).
38. WALTHER BURCKHARDT, KOMMENTAR DER SCHWEIZERISCHEN BUNDESVERFASSUNG VOM 29. M AI 1874 [COMMENTARY ON THE SWISS FEDERAL CONSTITUTION OF 29TH MAY 1874] (Huber 1905).
39. VITTORIO EMANUELE ORLANDO, I criteri tecnici per la ricostruzione giuridica del diritto pubblico [The Technical Criteria for a Legal Reconstruction of Public Law], in DIRITTO PUBBLICO GENERALE [GENERAL PUBLIC LAW] (photo. reprint 1954) (1940)
40. on Orlando, see MAURIZIO FIORAVANTI, LA SCIENZA DEL DIRITTO PUBBLICO [THE SCIENCE OF PUBLIC LAW] 23-24 (Giuffrè 2001)
41. FULCO LANCHESTER, MOMENTI E FIGURE NEL DIRITTO COSTITUZIONALE IN ITALIA E IN GERMANIA [MOMENTS AND FORMS IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN ITALY AND GERMANY] 323-325 (Giuffrè 1994).
42. ORLANDO, supra note 32, at 3.
43. But cf. MATHIAS REIMANN, HISTORISCHE SCHULE UND COMMON LAW [HISTORICAL SCHOOL AND COMMON LAW] (1993).
44. ALBERT VENN DICEY, INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION (10th ed., Macmillan 1959).
45. For an appraisal in a comparative perspective, see ELISABETH ZOLLER, INTRODUCTION AU DROIT PUBLIC [INTRODUCTION to PUBLIC LAW] 89-95, 100-101 (Dalloz 2006). On the rule of law and its theorization by Dicey, see LUC HEUSCHLING, ÉTAT DE DROIT, RECHTSSTAAT, RULE OF LAW 240-261 (Dalloz 2002).
46. See Olivier Jouanjan, Histoire de la science du droit constitutionnel, in TRAITE INTERNATIONAL DE DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL [INTERNATIONAL MANUAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] §III B 3 (Michel Troper ed., 2009 (forthcoming).
47. ADHÉMAR ESMEIN, ÉLÉMENTS DE DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL FRANÇAIS ET COMPARÉ [ELEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AND COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] IX-XI (5th ed., Panthéon 2001) (1909).
48. For conceptual clarifi cation, see NORBERTO BOBBIO, IL POSITIVISMO GIURIDICO [LEGAL POSITIVISM] 129 (Giappichelli 1996).
49. For this term, see Bernhard Schlink, Bemerkungen zum Stand der Methodendiskussion in der Verfassungsrechtswissenschaft, 19 DER STAAT 73, 89-92 (1980) (F.R.G.).
50. For seminal contributions to dualism, see HEINRICH TRIEPEL, VÖLKERRECHT UND LANDESRECHT [INTERNATIONAL LAW AND NATIONAL LAW] 12-22 (Leipzig Hirschfeldt 1899)
51. DIONISIO ANZILOTTI, CORSO DI DIRITTO INTERNAZIONALE [TEXTBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL LAW] 50-51 (CEDAM 1928)
52. LASSA F. OPPENHEIM, INTERNATIONAL LAW: A TREATISE, VOL. 1 §20 (Hersch Lauterpacht ed., 5th ed., Lawbook Exchange 1937) (view not shared by the editor). As to prominent expositions of monism, see, for example, HANS KELSEN, REINE RECHTSLEHRE [PURE THEORY OF LAW] 129-154 (Mohr Siebeck 2008) (1934)
53. GEORGES SCELLE, PRÉCIS DE DROIT DES GENS [SYNOPSIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW] 31-32 (Sirey 1932).
54. A. W. B. Simpson, The Rise and Fall of the Legal Treatise: Legal Principles and the Forms of Legal Literature, 48 U. CHI. L. REV. 632, 677-679 (1981)
55. the distance becomes apparent to the German jurist in James R. Maxeiner, U.S. "Methods Awareness" for German Jurists, in FESTSCHRIFT FÜR WOLFGANG FIKENTSCHER [COLLECTED ESSAYS IN HONOR OF WOLFGANG FIKENTSCHER] 114, 117-120 (Bernhard Großfeld ed., Mohr Siebeck 1998).
56. SIR IVOR JENNINGS, THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION (5th ed., Univ. London Press 1959).
57. Santi Romano, Lo Stato moderno e la sua crisi (1909), in LO STATO MODERNO E LA SUA CRISI [THE MODERN STATE AND ITS CRISIS] (Giuffrè 1969).
58. CARL SCHMITT, VERFASSUNGSLEHRE [CONSTITUTIONAL DOCTRINE] (3d ed., Dunker & Humblot 1957).
59. MAURICE DUVERGER, DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL ET INSTITUTIONS POLITIQUES [CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS] (Presses Univ. de France 1955); for turning the priorities around from the fifth edition on, see MAURICE DUVERGER, INSTITUTIONS POLITIQUES ET DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL [POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] (5th ed., Presses Univ. de France 1960); point taken from Jouanjan, supra note 37.
60. Heuschling, supra note *, ¶¶ 22, 24, 50ff (translation my own).
61. Supra note 6.
62. Accordingly, this development constitutes an initial emphasis of comparative constitutional law. See Rudolf Bernhardt, Eigenheiten und Ziele der Rechtsvergleichung im öffentlichen Recht Peculiarities and Objectives in Public Law], 24 ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR AUSLÄNDISCHES ÖFFENTLICHES RECHT UND VÖLKERRECHT (ZaöRV) 431 (1964) (F.R.G.)
63. CHRISTIAN STARCK, CONSTITUTIONALISM, UNIVERSALISM AND DEMOCRACY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS (Nomos 1999)
64. CONSTANCE GREWE & HÉLENE RUIZ-FABRI, DROITS CONSTITUTIONNELS EUROPÉENS [EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] 140-190 (Presses Univ. de France 1995)
65. but see GUISEPPE DE VERGOTTINI, DIRITTO COSTITUZIONALE COMPARATO [COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] 230 (6th ed., CEDAM 2004) (arguing with a consistent focus on state structures and summarizing questions on fundamental rights in twenty pages).
66. Schlink, supra note 40. For the same phenomenon in other countries, see Heuschling, 2 IPE supra note *, §28 ¶27
67. Fioravanti, 2 IPE supra note *, §31 ¶63.
68. Somek, 2 IPE supra note *, §33 ¶¶ 31, 33, 39.
69. On this conflict, see Guerrero, 1 IPE supra note *, §11 ¶37
70. for a similar problem in Poland, see Tuleja, 1 IPE supra note * §8 ¶¶ 42-45, 57.
71. Luc Heuschling points out that in modern-day France the question of the Constitution's integrationist potential is hardly asked. Society and patriotism, Heuschling continues, are defined relative to the values liberté, égalité, fraternité, and laïcité; they have no legal, textual anchor other than the reference in the Déclaration of 1789, since the constitutional texts were too labile. The constitutions passed, while the nation and state (that is, republican values, political personnel, the administrative structures settled since Napoleon, and the social structures anchored in the Code Civil) remained. This "knowledge of the constitution among the people" applies only to the past, states Heuschling, which is part of the reason why one speaks in France not of "constitutional" but of "republican" values.
72. This conceptual innovation is attributed to Wilhelm Albrecht, Rezension über Maurenbrechers Grundsätze des heutigen deutschen Staatsrechts [Review of Maurenbrechers Principles of Contemporary German State Law], GÖTTINGISCHE GELEHRTE ANZEIGEN, 1489, 1508 (1837) (F.R.G); ROMEO MAURENBRECHER, GRUNDSÄTZE DES HEUTIGEN DEUTSCHEN STAATSRECHTS [MAIN FEATURES OF THE CONTEMPORARY GERMAN STATE LAW] (Varentrapp 1837).
73. Today, the self-identification as either scholarship on the "law of the state" or, rather, as "constitutional law" scholarship may depend on whether a scholarly tradition draws its identity more from the constitutional ideas of the epoch between 1776 and 1848 or from the phenomenon of the state and public order. See MICHAEL STOLLEIS, NATIONALITÄT UND INTERNATIONALITÄT [NATIONALITY AND INTERNATIONALITY] 23 (Steiner 1998).
74. Lipowicz, supra note *, §34 ¶¶ 60-64.
75. Loughlin, 1 IPE supra note *, §4 ¶¶ 4, 66.
76. Id. §4 ¶¶ 4, 66.
77. For an overview of various constitutional theories in the U.S., see MODERN CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY: A READER (John H. Garvey et al. eds., West 1999).
78. On the continuing persistence of this classification in the political sphere, see NORBERTO BOBBIO, DESTRA E SINISTRA [RIGHT AND LEFT] 63 (Donzelli 1995).
79. Heuschling, 2 IPE supra note *, §28 ¶¶ 35-36.
80. Even in countries with private universities, the important professors of constitutional law remain largely within the public universities. Neither the Bocconi nor the Luiss in Italy, neither Bucerius in Germany nor any of the private Spanish universities have yet achieved a noteworthy profile in this area.
81. See supra note*.
82. RAOUL C. VAN CAENEGEM, JUDGES, LEGISLATORS AND PROFESSORS: CHAPTERS IN EUROPEAN LEGAL HISTORY 67-111 (Cambridge Univ. Press 1987).
83. L'ENSEIGNEMENT DU DROIT CONSTITUTIONNEL [EDUCATION IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] (Jean-Frano̧is Flauss ed., Bruyant 2000).
84. Nonetheless, the current of "smaller" educational literature can be seen, from a scholarly point of view, as a wasted allocation of resources.
85. Tomkins, supra note *, 2 IPE §30 ¶56.
86. Comparative public law appears most developed in Italy with numerous professors dedicated to this topic; see, as an outstanding example, ALESSANDRO PIZZORUSSO, IL PATRIMONIO COSTITUZIONALE EUROPEO [THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL HERITAGE] (Il Mulino 2002).
87. For Germany, see LÉONTIN-JEAN CONSTANTINESCO, RECHTSVERGLEICHUNG [COMPARATIVE LAW] (1971)
88. PETER HÄBERLE, EUROPÄISCHE RECHTSKULTUR [EUROPEAN JUDICIARY CULTURE] 9-32 (Suhrkamp 1997)
89. the online public access catalogue (OPAC) of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law includes catalogues of monographs and volumes under the notations "Rvgl: IX Aa" through "Rvgl: IX Ae." See http://www.mpil.de/inthome/ww/de/int/intranet/opac.cfm (last visited July 11, 2006). Bibliographic references for articles on comparative constitutional law are available in the articles catalogue under the notations "Rvgl 2.1" through "Rvgl 2.7."; see http://www.mpil.de/ww/en/pub/library/catalogues_databases/ doc_of_articles/comp_law.cfm (last visited July 11, 2006). When searching with these notations, the "Field to search" should be set to either "Notation (books)" or "Notation (articles)."
90. BERND WIESER, VERGLEICHENDES VERFASSUNGSRECHT [COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW] (Springer 2005). This may also have much to do with the fact that other legal orders have a subject along the lines of comparative law, droit comparé, diritto costituzionale comparato etc., whereas the German term Rechtsvergleichung refers, rather, to an activity, namely, "comparing," than to a separate subject matter, which militates against its disciplinary establishment with separate textbooks.
91. See HAROLD COOKE GUTTERIDGE, COMPARATIVE LAW 17 (Cambridge Univ. Press 1949).
92. See GREWE & RUIZ FABRI, supra note 49
93. ZOLLER, supra note 36
94. ELISABETH ZOLLER, INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC LAW (Martinus Nijhoff 2008).
95. For more detail, see STOLLEIS, supra note 55, 20-21.
96. The term ius publicum europaeum can rightfully be freed from its association with Carl Schmitt; cf., e.g., CARL SCHMITT, DER NOMOS DER ERDE IM VÖLKERRECHT DES JUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM [THE NOMOS OF THE EARTH IN INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE JUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM] (Dunker & Humblot 1950)
97. PIER PAOLO PORTINARO, LA CRISI DELLO JUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM: SAGGIO SU CARL SCHMITT [THE CRISIS OF THE JUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM: AN ESSAY ON CARL SCHMITT] (Edizioni di Comunità 1982).
98. On the roots of the term, cf., e.g., JOACHIM HAGEMEIER, IURIS PUBLICI EUROPAEI [EUROPEAN PUBLIC LAW], Vol. 1 De trium Regnorum septentrionalium Daniae, Norwegiae et Sveciae statu (1677), Vol. 2 De statu Galliae (1678), Vol. 3 De statu Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae (1678), Vol. 4 De statu Imperii Germanici (1678), Vol. 5 De statu proviniciarum Belgicarum (1679), Vol. 6 De statu Italiae (1680), Vol. 7 De statu regnorum Hungariae et Bohemiae (1680), Vol. 8 De statu regni Poloniae et imperii Moscovitici (1680) (Beyer).
99. On German state and public law, see generally STOLLEIS, supra note 55, at 20-21
100. MICHAEL STOLLEIS, GESCHICHTE DES ÖFFENTLICHEN RECHTS IN DEUTSCHLAND [HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LAW IN GERMANY] 322-380 (Beck 1992).
101. Lipowicz, 2 IPE supra note *, §34 ¶¶ 10-15.
102. A French saying remarks that the French style is elegant and well-ordered, the German dim and abstract, and the English empirical and concrete.