A Living Constitution

What Belongs in a Constitution?

The essay argues that the content of constitutions should derive from its political functions: granting stability and legitimacy to government. There are three main candidates for inclusion in constitutions: regime arrangements, human rights, and general credo. All constitutions must include institutional arrangements. The level of detail and entrenchment may vary. There are important reasons f...

EUROPEAN & INTERNATIONAL LAW Death by Constitution? The Draft Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe

However, if this were its only drawback, this brief comment would be unnecessary. But, in fact, the Draft constitution (we will use this term as a convenient shorthand and so as to underline the sense of alienation that oozes from the use of the term constitution, although it would be better to speak of a draft treaty) raises issues on a number of rather fundamental points. Its main characteris...

The Bill of Rights as a Constitution

On the Constitution of a Compound Republic

is a series of distinguished essays on political economy and public policy. The Cato Institute takes its name from an earlier series of Cato's Letters, essays on political liberty written by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon in the 18th century, which were widely read in the American colonies and played a major role in laying the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution. Additional c...

Taxation and the Constitution