Abstract
Historical Perspective and Concepts of the Constitution. There is a link between
the methods employed to study and interpret the constitution, and the
concepts of the constitution itself. These concepts are diverse, but, in any given
moment, some of them may be favored by historical conditions. Therefore,
historical dynamics may alter the way in which the constitution is conceived,
interpreted, applied and, therefore, the constitution itself, as long as it is not
viewed in a purely positivistic perspective. Starting from some methodological
essays of the authors of Quaderni costituzionali, three stages of Italian
constitutional history are reviewed in the light of the foregoing premises:
the transition from liberal to welfare state («stato sociale»), witnessed by
the methodological writings of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando; the rise of the
welfare state in the republican Constitution, seen through the work of Costantino
Mortati at the Constituent Assembly and his ensuing perplexities; the
evolution of the constitutional state («stato costituzionale»), characterized by
the dialectic between ever-moving principles, as well as by a growing role of
judicial authorities, while political institutions languish. The essay ends with a
look at the present: a landscape of changes so substantial, that they demand
to be translated into legal categories and require speculations on the very
conditions and premises of the 1948 Constitution.
Titolo tradotto del contributo | [Autom. eng. transl.] Historical perspective and conceptions of the Constitution |
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Lingua originale | Italian |
pagine (da-a) | 275-304 |
Numero di pagine | 30 |
Rivista | Quaderni Costituzionali |
DOI | |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2020 |
Keywords
- Constitution
- Constitutional Change
- Constitutional History
- Constitutional State
- Constitutional Theory
- Liberal State
- Welfare State