The language of law and the foundations of American constitutionalism / Gary L. McDowell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McDowell, Gary L., 1949- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional law--United States.

Constitutional law.

Law--United States--Language.

Law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 409 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

The Language of Law & the Foundations of American Constitutionalism

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For much of its history, the interpretation of the United States Constitution presupposed judges seeking the meaning of the text and the original intentions behind that text, a process that was deemed by Chief Justice John Marshall to be 'the most sacred rule of interpretation'. Since the end of the nineteenth century, a radically new understanding has developed in which the moral intuition of the judges is allowed to supplant the Constitution's original meaning as the foundation of interpretation. The Founders' Constitution of fixed and permanent meaning has been replaced by the idea of a 'living' or evolving constitution. Gary L. McDowell refutes this new understanding, recovering the theoretical grounds of the original Constitution as understood by those who framed and ratified it. It was, he argues, the intention of the Founders that the judiciary must be bound by the original meaning of the Constitution when interpreting it.

Contents:

Introduction : The politics of original intention

The Constitution and the scholarly tradition : recovering the founders' constitution

Nature and the language of law : Thomas Hobbes and the foundations of modern constitutionalism

Language, law, and liberty : John Locke and the structures of modern constitutionalism

The limits of natural law : modern constitutionalism and the science of interpretation

The greatest improvement on political institutions : natural rights, the intentions of the people, and written constitutions

Chains of the Constitution : Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the "political metaphysics" of strict construction

The most sacred rule of interpretation : John Marshall, originalism, and the limits of judicial power

The same yesterday, today, and forever : Joseph Story and the permanence of constitutional meaning

Epilogue: The moral foundations of originalism.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612908163

9781107204447

1107204445

9780511852404

0511852401

9781282908161

1282908162

9780511761508

0511761503

9780511931215

0511931212

9780511932557

0511932553

9780511927379

0511927371

9780511924835

0511924836

9780511929878

0511929870

OCLC:

689997287