The Global Spread of Constitutional Review
Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics (Keith Whittington and Daniel Keleman, eds., 2008).
20 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2014
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
Constitutional review, the power of courts to strike down incompatible legislation and administrative action, is an innovation of the American constitutional order that has become a norm of democratic constitution writing. Whereas before World War II, only a small handful of constitutions contained provisions for constitutional review, as of this writing, 158 out of 191 constitutional systems include some formal provision for constitutional review. Some political systems, such as the United States, have developed vigorous constitutional review even without an explicit textual mandate. How did this institution, whose democratic foundations are so often questioned in its birthplace, become a norm of democratic constitution writing?
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