Aileen Kavanagh (Trinity College (Dublin)) has posted The Living Constitution in Collaborative Context on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this paper, I argue that living constitutionalism (i.e. a dynamic form of constitutional interpretation where courts develop, update, and change constitutional meaning over time) is both constitutionally legitimate and normatively desirable. In doing so, however, I emphasise that the legitimacy of living constitutionalism depends crucially on the limits of dynamic judicial interpretation.

The Download of the Week is Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory by Aileen Kavanagh. Here is the abstract: In constitutional theory, we are familiar with the claim that a good theory must fit and justify constitutional practice. However, the criterion of 'fit' sometimes gets lost in the quest to provide a bold normative theory about what constitutional should be. Using the debate about the legitimacy of constitutional judicial review as an example, this article warns against a problematic disjuncture between theory and practice in the domain of constitutional law.

This book review article considers some of the core themes discussed in Aileen Kavanagh’s The Collaborative Constitution, in particular its exploration of the concept of the separation of powers as it...

The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly is a legal research journal published quarterly by the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast.