Comparative Constitutional Law (LAW411H1F)

At present there is an unprecedented and ongoing world-wide conversation about how to resolve contentious constitutional questions. There is, in other words, more convergence over answers to constitutional questions and less divergence than has been seen in modern times. A part of that conversation concerns which precedents, issuing out of which jurisdictions, provide models for judicial decision making and which should be strenuously avoided. 

This seminar examines the content of what might be called the comparative constitutional law canon. Of interest will be the various jurisdictions and cases that serve as both models of constitutional analysis and as anti-models. Among the topics for discussion will be comparative constitutional property rights, social rights, freedom of expression, separation of powers, and proportionality analysis. In addition, selected regional approaches and historic moments that inform contemporary constitutional analysis will be examined.