The Constitution as Instrument and as Symbol
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3481344 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edward S Corwin (Princeton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1936 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1071-1085 |
| Publication date | 1936-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1948289 |
| OpenAlex | W2041521331 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 1 |
On an early page of his celebrated Constitutional Limitations, Judge Cooley defines "constitution" in the following curt terms: "That body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the powers of sovereignty are habitually exercised." Returning later to the subject, he quotes with approval a more elaborate conception, couched in these words: "What is a constitution, and what are its objects? It is easier to tell what it is not than what it is. It is not the beginning of a community, nor the origin of private rights; it is not the fountain of law, nor the incipient state of government; it is not the cause, but consequence, of personal and political freedom; it grants no rights to the people, but is the creature of their power, the instrument of their convenience. Designed for their protection in the enjoyment of the rights and powers which they possessed before the constitution was made, it is but the framework of the political government, and necessarily based upon the preëxisting condition of laws, rights, habits, and modes of thought. There is nothing primitive in it, it is all derived from a known source. It presupposes an organized society, law, order, property, personal freedom, a love of political liberty, and enough of cultivated intelligence to know how to guard it against the encroachments of tyranny. A written constitution is in every instance a limitation upon the powers of government in the hands of agents; for there never was a written republican constitution which delegated to functionaries all the latent powers which lie dormant in every nation, and are boundless in extent, and incapable of definition
Bill of rights · Constitution · Limited government · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Separation of powers · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Philosophy
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The Search for an Anchor
The Long Resistance
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The Framers' Muse on Republicanism, the Supreme Court,and Pragmatic Constitutional Interpretivism
What Can We Learn from Written Constitutions
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Popular Constitutionalism's Hard When You're Not Very Popular
The Supreme Court and Critical Elections
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,24 |
| Citation span | 1963 - 2021 (59) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |