Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Keywords

constitutions, eigtheenth century, twentieth century

Comments

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Maryland Constitutional Law Schmooze, December 1-2, 2006. See: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/schmooze_papers/63/

Abstract

At present, almost all of the constitutions in the world are twentieth-century constitutions; indeed, most of them were not adopted until the second half of the twentieth century. Accordingly, the eighteenth-century Constitution of the United States -- which includes the original constitution of 1787-89; the first ten amendments, adopted in 1791; and the Eleventh Amendment, adopted in 1798 -- antedates most other constitutions of the world by at least 150 years. Using the eighteenth-century Constitution of the United States as a form of base-line (a method that may be parochial, but one that I think also has a lot to be said for it), we can examine the characteristics of modern constitutions -- that is, the characteristics of twentieth-century constitutions. This article sketches the most striking differences and contrasts between the eighteenth-century Constitution of the United States and certain of its twentieth-century counterparts.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Constitutional Law

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