Interpreting Constitutions

Jeffrey Goldsworthy holds a Personal Chair at Monash University. His major interests are legal philosophy, and constitutional law, theory, and history. He has numerous publications in these fields, and is best known for his book "The Sovereignty of Parliament, History and Philosophy" (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1999), and many journal articles on constitutional interpretation.

• 1. Introduction ; 2. United States: Eclecticism In the Service of Pragmatism ; 3. Canada: From Privy Council to Supreme Court ; 4. Australia: Devotion to Legalism ; 5. Germany: Balancing Rights and Duties ; 6. India: From Positivism to Structuralism ; 7. South Africa: From Constitutional Promise to Social Transformation ; 8. Conclusions

The book is a success. The essays are largely coherent in both structure and vocabulary; the authors manage to insert distinct perspectives while keeping to their organizational discipline; and the essays support readers in generating ideas for new research directions. Although the book focuses on questions of constitutional interpretation, the comparative orientation and the scope of constitutional questions that each essay addresses will make it a valuable reference for political scientists and political theorists, not just lawyers. The book will prove especially useful to graduate students or researchers contemplating a shift in their primary research direction.