On the Interpretability of Law: Lessons from the Decoding of National Constitutions
Date
2012-10-09Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
An implicit element of many theories of constitutional enforcement is the degree to which those subject
to constitutional law can agree on what its provisions mean (call this constitutional interpretability).
Unfortunately, there is little evidence on baseline levels of constitutional interpretability or the variance
therein. This article seeks to fill this gap in the literature, by assessing the effect of contextual, textual
and interpreter characteristics on the interpretability of constitutional documents. Constitutions are
found to vary in their degree of interpretability. Surprisingly, however, the most important determinants
of variance are not contextual (for example, era, language or culture), but textual. This result emphasizes
the important role that constitutional drafters play in the implementation of their product.