Constitutional courts and democratic values : a European perspective / Victor Ferreres Comella.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ferreres Comella, Víctor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional courts--Europe.

Constitutional courts.

Constitutional courts--United States.

Judicial review--Europe.

Judicial review.

Judicial review--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xvi, 238 p.))

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Constitutional courts & democratic values

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this book, Víctor Ferreres Comella contrasts the European "centralized" constitutional court model, in which one court system is used to adjudicate constitutional questions, with a decentralized model, such as that of the United States, in which courts deal with both constitutional and nonconstitutional questions. Comella's systematic exploration of the reasons for and against the creation of constitutional courts is rich in detail and offers an ambitious theory to justify the European preference for them. Based on extensive research on eighteen European countries, Comella finds that centralized review fits well with the civil law tradition and structures of ordinary adjudication in those countries. Comella concludes that-while the decentralized model works for the United States-there is more than one way to preserve democratic values and that these values are best preserved in the parliamentary democracies of Europe through constitutional courts.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Rise of Constitutional Courts

2. Historical Background: The Principle of Separation of Powers

3. A Traditional Justification: Legal Certainty

4. The Justification of Constitutional Review: The Sketch of an Argument

5. The Special Nature of Constitutional Discourse

6. The Structure of the Constitutional Conversation

7. Overcoming Judicial Timidity

8. The Democratic Objection to Constitutional Review

9. Democratic Checks on Courts

10. Decentralizing Tendencies in the System

11. The Impact of the European Court of Justice

12. The Impact of the European Court of Human Rights

Afterword

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-222) and index.

ISBN:

9786612352799

9781282352797

1282352792

9780300148688

0300148682

OCLC:

587634199