Democracy and legal change / Melissa Schwartzberg.
2007
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Details
Title
Democracy and legal change / Melissa Schwartzberg.
Imprint
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Description
1 online resource (xii, 228 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Series
Cambridge studies in the theory of democracy ; 6.
Formatted Contents Note
Introduction : explaining legal change and entrenchment
Innovation and democracy : legal change in ancient Athens
Legislation and law reform in seventeenth-century England
Fallibility and foundations in the U.S. Constitution
Protecting democracy and dignity in Postwar Germany
Conclusion : defending democracy against entrenchment.
Innovation and democracy : legal change in ancient Athens
Legislation and law reform in seventeenth-century England
Fallibility and foundations in the U.S. Constitution
Protecting democracy and dignity in Postwar Germany
Conclusion : defending democracy against entrenchment.
Summary
Since ancient Athens, democrats have taken pride in their power and inclination to change their laws, yet they have also sought to counter this capacity by creating immutable laws. In Democracy and Legal Change, Melissa Schwartzberg argues that modifying law is a fundamental and attractive democratic activity. Against those who would defend the use of 'entrenchment clauses' to protect key constitutional provisions from revision, Schwartzberg seeks to demonstrate historically the strategic and even unjust purposes unamendable laws have typically served, and to highlight the regrettable consequences that entrenchment may have for democracies today. Drawing on historical evidence, classical political theory, and contemporary constitutional and democratic theory, Democracy and Legal Change reexamines the relationship between democracy and the rule of law from a new, and often surprising, set of vantage points.
Note
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
Location
WWW
Available in Other Form
Print version:
Linked Resources
Alternate Title
Cambridge Core.
Language
English
ISBN
9780511509681 ebook
9780521866521 (hardback)
9780521146579 (paperback)
9780521866521 (hardback)
9780521146579 (paperback)
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