Constitutional Dialogue Rights, Democracy, Institutions

The metaphor of 'dialogue' has been put to different descriptive and evaluative uses by constitutional and political theorists studying interactions between institutions concerning rights. It has also featured prominently in the opinions of courts and the rhetoric and deliberations of legislators. This volume brings together many of the world's leading constitutional and political theorists to debate the nature and merits of constitutional dialogues between the judicial, legislative, and executive branches. Constitutional Dialogue explores dialogue's democratic significance, examines its relevance to the functioning and design of constitutional institutions, and covers constitutional dialogues from an international and transnational perspective.

1. Introduction: the 'what' and 'why' of constitutional dialogue Geoffrey Sigalet, Grégoire Webber and Rosalind Dixon; Part I. Dialogue and Democracy: 2. Dialogue and its myths Alison Young; 3. Departmentalism and dialogue Jacob T. Levy; 4. On dialogue and domination Geoffrey Sigalet; Part II. Dialogue and Institutions: 5. Past, present, and justice in the exercise of judicial responsibility Grégoire Webber; 6. Dialogue and deference Rosalind Dixon; 7. Dialogue, finality, and legality Jeff King; Part III. Dialogue and Rights: 8. Canada's notwithstanding clause, dialogue, and constitutional identities Dwight Newman; 9. Intra-parliamentary dialogues in New Zealand and the UK Janet L. Hiebert and James B. Kelly; 10. Dialogue in Canada and the dangers of simplified comparative law and populism Kent Roach; 11. Bills of rights with strings attached: protecting the past from judicial review Rivka Weill; Part IV. Case Studies of Dialogue: 12. Prisoners' voting and judges' powers John Finnis; 13. 'All's well that ends well?' Same-sex marriage and constitutional dialogue Stephen Macedo; 14. A feature, not a bug: a co-ordinate moment in Canadian constitutionalism Dennis Baker; Part V. International and Transnational Dialogues: 15. Dialogue and its discontents Frederick Schauer; 16. Constitutional conversations in Britain (and Europe) Richard Ekins.

This volume will interest academic audiences across the fields of human rights law, public law, constitutional theory, jurisprudence, political theory, and political science. It will appeal to lawyers and judges reviewing legislation for compliance with rights, and political scientists and legislators interested in institutional dialogue.

Geoffrey Sigalet is a post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Law at Queen's University and a non-resident fellow at the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Stanford University, California. He completed his Ph.D. in political theory and public law at Princeton University, where his dissertation developed a neo-republican political theory of 'dialogical' judicial review and constitutional interpretation.
Grégoire Webber holds the Canada Research Chair in Public Law and Philosophy of Law at Queen's University, Ontario and is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Negotiable Constitution: On the Limitation of Rights (Cambridge, 2009), joint editor of Proportionality and the Rule of Law: Rights, Justification, Reasoning (Cambridge, 2014), and joint author of Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation (Cambridge, 2018).
Rosalind Dixon is a Professor of Law, at University of New South Wales, Sydney, and Co-President of the International Society of Public Law. Her work has been published in leading journals in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. She was previously an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Columbia Law School, Harvard Law School, and the National University of Singapore.