The burden of history, with the promise of philosophy in Germany -- Modern political language -- The "new constitutionalism" in 187 countries -- Regulating the extent of the state in five democracies -- Rule of law without a constitution in the UK -- Federalism and party polarisation in the US -- Mixed legal systems with human rights reform in Canada -- Executive dominance with decentralisation in France -- The burden of history, with the promise of philosophy in Germany -- Conclusions.
Summary:
By machine reading 60,556,672 words of legislation, and analysing 7,469 country years, this book uncovers changing patterns in the language of laws. In addition to this wide angle, a tight focus on five countries -- Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US -- reveals the effects of changing legal language on policy power for judges. With this new perspective and new data, the book explains how and why judges have become more actively involved in public policy disputes on such sensitive topics as abortion, human rights and terrorism. Matthew Williams is Tutor and Fellow of Jesus College, University of Oxford, UK. He lectures on British and comparative politics. His research analyses the language of politics, how the language of legislation has changed over the past century, and the effects of these changes on litigation strategies and public administration.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.