Comparative Constitutional History

Francesco Biagi is Senior Assistant Professor of Comparative Public Law at the University of Bologna Department of Legal Studies. His latest publications include: European Constitutional Courts and Transitions to Democracy (Cambridge University Press 2020); “Constitution Drafting After the Arab Spring: A Comparative Overview”, 29 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 1 (2022). Justin O. Frosini is Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law at the Bocconi University in Milan and Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law at Johns Hopkins University. He earned his law degree and his doctorate from the University of Bologna. His latest book is Dalla Sovranità del Parlamento alla Sovranità del Popolo. La rivoluzione costituzionale provocata dalla Brexit (Wolters Kluwer-Cedam, 2020). Jason Mazzone is the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he also serves as Director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History and Law. He earned undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University and his doctorate from Yale University.

Acknowledgments


List of Tables


Notes on Contributors


Introduction

  Francesco Biagi, Justin O. Frosini and Jason Mazzone



Part 1

Framing the Problem

1 History Limit or License in Constitutional Adjudication?

  Mark D. Rosen



2 When History Requires the Use of History in Constitutional Adjudication

  Jorge M. Farinacci-Fernós



3 Memory as Mantle Evil Pasts and Judges’ Power in Germany and South Africa

  Justin Collings



Part 2

Historical Precedents and Inter-constitutional Interpretation

4 Comparing Constitutional Historicities The Case of Precedents in Canada and the United States

  Jean-Christophe Bédard-Rubin



5 Inter-constitutional Interpretation A Case Study of the Articles of Confederation

  Cem Tecimer



Part 3

A Matter of Narratives

6 Janus’ Third Face? The Spanish Constitutional Court at the Crossroads of History

  Ángel Aday Jiménez Alemán



7 Competing Narratives The Use of Historical Arguments in Constitutional Interpretation in Brazil

  Ana Beatriz Robalinho



8 Manipulating Constitutional, Legislative and Judicial History Incremental Judicial Activism in the Japanese Supreme Court

  Keigo Obayashi



Part 4

New Democracies and Illiberal Regimes

9 How Not to Use History in Constitutional Interpretation The Aborted Resurrection of the Historical Constitution in Hungary

  Zoltán Szente



10 Using the Authoritarian Past for Constitutional Interpretation in New Democracies The Example of the Taiwan Constitutional Court

  Shih-An Wang



 Conclusion Which History, Whose Past?

  Diego Werneck Arguelhes



Index