Constitutional Identity

In Constitutional Identity, Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn argues that a constitution acquires an identity through experiencefrom a mix of the political aspirations and commitments that express a nations past and the desire to transcend that past. It is changeable but resistant to its own destruction, and manifests itself in various ways, as Jacobsohn shows in examples as far flung as India, Ireland, Israel, and the United States. Jacobsohn argues that the presence of disharmonyboth the tensions within a constitutional order and those that exist between a constitutional document and the society it seeks to regulateis critical to understanding the theory and dynamics of constitutional identity. He explores constitutional identitys great practical importance for some of constitutionalisms most vexing questions: Is an unconstitutional constitution possible? Is the judicial practice of using foreign sources to resolve domestic legal disputes a threat to vital constitutional interests? How are the competing demands of transformation and preservation in constitutional evolution to be balanced?