The Identity and Limits of the Constituent Subject
This chapter considers the legal and institutional implications that different 19th-century authors derived from the theory on constituent power and that, in many cases, were reflected in actual constitutional practice. Part I briefly examines the general historical context in which the works discussed in the chapter were written. Part II considers the constitutional theories of a group of authors who focused on the exclusive character of the nation’s constituent power. Theirs were theories that largely rejected the English tradition of parliamentary sovereignty, that is, of a parliament able to engage in both constituted and constituent activity. Importantly, these conceptions were developed at a time when it was not uncommon for written constitutions to lack amendment rules. Part III considers the work of a group of authors who, while largely operating under the Sieyèsian ‘constituent power of the nation’ approach, attempted to provide a more concrete form to ‘the nation’ without fully embracing Rousseau’s system of popular sovereignty. Finally, Part IV examines the work of authors who approach the theory of constituent power from a natural law perspective.