CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

the body of rules, doctrines, and practices that govern the operation of political communities. In modern times by far the most important political community has been the national state. Modern constitutional law is the offspring of nationalism as well as of the idea that the state must protect certain fundamental rights of the individual. As national states have multiplied in number, so have constitutions and with them the body of constitutional law. But constitutional law originates today sometimes from non-national sources too, while the protection of individual rights has become the concern also of supranational institutions. Additional reading For the definition of the concept of constitutional law and of the elements, necessary and contingent, that make up a constitution, see Hans Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, trans. from German and French (1945, reissued 1971). See also H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law (1961, reprinted 1981). For the national origins of modern constitutions, see Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism: A Study in Its Origins and Background (1944, reprinted 1977). A concise description of the contribution made by the idea of the inalienable rights of the individual to the development of modern constitutional law, together with an analysis of the recent expansion of the protection of such rights at the international level, can be found in Louis Henkin, The Rights of Man Today (1978). Valuable works on modern constitutionalism include Carl J. Friedrich, Constitutional Government and Democracy: Theory and Practice in Europe and America, 4th ed. (1968); and Karl Loewenstein, Political Power and the Governmental Process, 2nd ed. (1965).The texts of almost all the state constitutions presently in force in the world are available in English translations in A.P. Blaustein and G.H. Flanz (eds.), Constitutions of the Countries of the World: A Series of Updated Texts, Constitutional Chronologies and Annotated Bibliographies, 17 vol. (1971 ), with quarterly revisions published for loose-leaf update. On federalism as a form of government, see William S. Livingston, Federalism and Constitutional Change (1956, reprinted 1974); K.C. Wheare, Federal Government, 4th ed. (1963, reprinted 1980); Carl J. Friedrich, Trends of Federalism in Theory and Practice (1968); and Michael Burgess (ed.), Federalism and Federation in Western Europe (1986). For a history of the separation of powers in Europe and America, see M.J.C. Vile, Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers (1967).For surveys of modern constitutional trends, see John A. Hawgood, Modern Constitutions Since 1787 (1939, reprinted 1987); Herbert J. Spiro, Government by Constitution: The Political Systems of Democracy (1959); C.F. Strong, Modern Political Constitutions: An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Their History and Existing Forms, 8th rev. and enlarged ed. (1972); K.C. Wheare, Modern Constitutions, 2nd rev. ed. (1966, reprinted 1980); and Arnold J. Zurcher (ed.), Constitutions and Constitutional Trends Since World War II: An Examination of Significant Aspects of Postwar Public Law with Particular Reference to the New Constitutions of Western Europe, 2nd ed. (1955, reprinted 1975). The most comprehensive, summary study of the forms of government existing in the world at the time of publication is probably Paolo Biscaretti di Ruffa, Introduzione al diritto costituzionale comparato, 6th ed. rev. (1988).For studies of the constitutions of particular groups of countries, see William Dale, The Modern Commonwealth (1983); Martin C. Needler (ed.), Political Systems of Latin America, 2nd ed. (1970); W.F. Abboushi, Political Systems of the Middle East in the 20th Century (1970); and H. Gordon Skilling, The Governments of Communist East Europe (1966). Surveys of individual countries include E.C.S. Wade and A.W. Bradley, Constitutional and Administrative Law, 10th ed. (1985), a classic on Great Britain's constitution; Edward McWhinney, Canada and the Constitution, 19791982: Patriation and the Charter of Rights (1982); Peter Hanks, Australian Constitutional Law, 3rd ed. (1985); George Arthur Codding, Jr., The Federal Government of Switzerland (1961); Klaus von Beyme, The Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany (1983); William Pickles, The French Constitution of October 4th, 1958 (1960); Alan Gledhill, The Republic of India: The Development of Its Laws and Constitution, 2nd ed. (1964); Ardath W. Burks, The Government of Japan, 2nd ed. (1964, reprinted 1982); and Aryeh L. Unger, Constitutional Development in the USSR: A Guide to the Soviet Constitutions (1981, reprinted 1986). For the European Community, see Emile Nol, The European Community: How It Works (1979).General works on the U.S. Constitution include Edward S. Corwin, Edward S. Corwin's The Constitution and What It Means Today, 14th ed. rev. by Harold W. Chase and Craig R. Ducat (1978); Arthur N. Holcombe, Our More Perfect Union: From Eighteenth-Century Principles to Twentieth-Century Practice (1950, reprinted 1967); C. Herman Pritchett, The American Constitution, 3rd ed. (1977); and Laurence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law, 2nd ed. (1988). Leonard W. Levy (ed.), Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 4 vol. (1986), is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary reference work. For history, see Max Farrand, The Framing of the Constitution of the United States (1913, reprinted 1974); Carl Brent Swisher, American Constitutional Development, 2nd ed. (1954, reprinted 1978); Alfred H. Kelly, Winfred A. Harbison, and Herman Belz, The American Constitution: Its Origins and Development, 6th ed. (1983); and Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (eds.), The Founders' Constitution, 5 vol. (1987), a monumental collection of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century documents that bear on all parts of the Constitution.On judicial review as an institution, and the constitutional law produced by it, see, in general, Mauro Cappelletti, Judicial Review in the Contemporary World (1971). On judicial review in the United States, see Edward S. Corwin, The Higher Law Background of American Constitutional Law (1929, reprinted 1971); Robert G. McCloskey, The American Supreme Court (1960, reprinted 1964); and Henry J. Abraham, Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States, 4th ed. (1982).For a comparative analysis of judicial review in the United States and other countries, see Walter F. Murphy and Joseph Tanenhaus, Comparative Constitutional Law: Cases and Commentaries (1977); and Mauro Cappelletti and William Cohen, Comparative Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials (1979). See also Francis G. Jacobs, The European Convention on Human Rights (1975). Giovanni Bognetti David Fellman