Constitutionalism Past, Present, and Future

Constitutionalism: Past, Present, and Future is the definitive collection of Dieter Grimm's most influential writings on constitutional thought and interpretation. The essays included in this volume explore the conditions under which the modern constitution could emerge; they treat the characteristics that must be given if the constitution may be called an achievement, the appropriate way to understand and interpret constitutional law under current conditions, the function of judicial review, the remaining role of national constitutions in a changing world, as well as the possibility of supra-national constitutionalism.

Many of these essays have influenced the German and European discussion on constitutionalism and for the first time, much of the work of one of German's leading scholars of public law will be available in the English language.

Dieter Grimm, Professor of Law and former Justice Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Humboldt University Berlin

Dieter Grimm teaches constitutional law at Humboldt University Berlin and the Yale Law School. From 1987-1999 he served as Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. From 2001-2007 he was the Director of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study) whose Permanent Fellow he continues to be. He was Visiting Professor at Harvard, New York University, Toronto, Rome, Kolkata, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and a Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study in South Africa. He is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Academia Europaea and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds honorary doctoral degrees from the universities of Toronto, Gottingen, Porto Alegre, and Bucarest. He has widely published on matters of constitutional law, constitutional history, constitutional theory, comparative constitutionalism, and European Union law.

I. Introduction
1. The Origins and Transformation of the Concept of the Constitution
II. Origins
2. Conditions for the Emergence and Effectiveness of Modern Constitutions
3. Basic Rights in the Formative Eras of Modern Society
4. The Concept of Constitution in Historical Perspective
III. Concepts and Function
5. The Function of Constitutions and Guidelines for Constitutional Reform
6. Integration by Constitution
IV. Interpretation
7. Fundamental Rights in the Interpretation of the German Constitutional Court
8. Return to the Traditional Understanding of Fundamental Rights?
V. Adjudication
9. Constitutional Courts and Constitutional Interpretation at the Interface of Law and Politics
10. Constitutional Adjudication and Democracy
VI. The Future
11. The Future of Constitutionalism
12. Can Democracy by Bargaining be Constitutionalized?
VII. Europeanisation
13. The Role of National Constitutions in a United Europe
14. The Democratic Costs of Constitutionalisation - The European Case
VIII. Internationalisation
15. The Constitution in the Process of Denationalisation
16. Societal Constitutionalism
17. Levels of the Rule of Law - On the Possibility of Exporting a Western Achievement
IX. Conclusion
18. The Achievement of Constitutionalism and its Prospects in a Changed World