Fall/Winter Timetable

JPJ2047H1F L0101

Undergraduate Course Code: LAW409H1F L0101

Comparative Constitutional Law and Politics

Themes

Constitutional supremacy – a concept that has long been a major pillar of American political order – is now shared, in one form or another, by over one hundred countries across the globe. This course offers an examination of various jurisprudential and political aspects of this trend. It combines an examination of comparative constitutional law with exploration of new frontiers of pertinent social science research concerning the origins and consequences of the worldwide expansion of constitutionalism and judicial review. Among the topics covered: the epistemology and methodology of comparative constitutional law; mapping the world of new constitutionalism from leading democracies and supra-national entities to various semi-democratic and non-western settings; theories of constitutional transformation; models of judicial review and the international migration of constitutional concepts; patterns of substantive convergence and enduring divergence in comparative constitutional jurisprudence; comparative constitutionalism and religion; constitutional courts and distributive justice; theories of judicial behavior; constitutional litigation and social change; and the judicialization of politics worldwide. LIMITED ENROLMENT: This course is offered at the Faculty of Law. Enrolment is limited to five (5) Ph.D. and/or MA students.

Texts

Comprehensive course packet

Format and Requirements

A weekly two-hour seminar. Evaluation: participation (15%), comment paper and in-class presentation (20%), and a final research paper (65%).