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Constitutional Courts and Democratic Values: A European Perspective

Online ISBN:
9780300148688
Print ISBN:
9780300148671
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Constitutional Courts and Democratic Values: A European Perspective

Victor Ferreres Comella
Victor Ferreres Comella
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Published:
1 December 2009
Online ISBN:
9780300148688
Print ISBN:
9780300148671
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

This book contrasts the European “centralized” constitutional court model, in which one court system is used to adjudicate constitutional questions, with a decentralized model, such as that of the United States, in which courts deal with both constitutional and nonconstitutional questions. The book's systematic exploration of the reasons for and against the creation of constitutional courts is detailed and it offers an ambitious theory to justify the European preference for them. Based on extensive research on eighteen European countries, the book finds that centralized review fits well with the civil law tradition and structures of ordinary adjudication in those countries. It concludes that, while the decentralized model works for the United States, there is more than one way to preserve democratic values and that these values are best preserved in the parliamentary democracies of Europe through constitutional courts.

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