- Title Pages
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Value: a Menu of Questions
- 2 Finnis on Well-being
- 3 Reasoning about the Human Good, and the Role of the Public Philosopher
- 4 On the Most Fundamental Principle of Morality
- 5 What is Natural Law Like?
- 6 Intention and Side Effects
- 7 Intention and Side Effects
- 8 John Finnis on Thomas Aquinas on Human Action
- 9 On Moral Philosophy and Kinds of Human Actions<sup>*</sup>
- 10 Finnis on Justice
- 11 Retributivism in the Spirit of Finnis<sup>*</sup>
- 12 The Nature of Limited Government
- 13 Pure Perfectionism and the Limits of Paternalism
- 14 ‘Lawful Mercy’ in <i>Measure for Measure</i>
- 15 The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
- 16 Constitutional and Other Persons
- 17 Bioethics after Finnis
- 18 A New Father for the Law and Ethics of Medicine
- 19 Value, Practice, and Idea
- 20 The Irony of Law
- 21 Ideas of Easy Virtue
- 22 Law and Its Theory
- 23 Finnis on Legal and Moral Obligation
- 24 Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- 25 Intention and the Allocation of Risk
- 26 The Right to Religious Liberty and the Coercion of Belief
- 27 Natural Law and the Transcendent Source of Human Fulfillment
- 28 Reflections and Responses
- Bibliography of the Published Works of John Finnis
- Index Introductory Note
Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- Chapter:
- (p.396) 24 Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- Source:
- Reason, Morality, and Law
- Author(s):
Richard Ekins
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter considers John Finnis' study of the constitutional law and practice of the members of the British Commonwealth, focusing on how constitutional principles articulate and frame the deliberation and action of legal and political authorities and thus inform law and convention. It examines Finnis' reflections on the continuity of law, the residual responsibilities of institutions in former parts of an imperial whole, the theory of responsible government in the imperial polity, the distinction between nationals and aliens, and the separation of judicial and legislative power. These reflections illuminate some of the ways in which the constitution informs how the political community acts over time for the common good, as well make clear why the unity and identity of that community is itself a matter of constitutional principle.
Keywords: constitutional law, constitutional principle, convention, continuity, political community, separation of powers, nationality
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- Title Pages
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Value: a Menu of Questions
- 2 Finnis on Well-being
- 3 Reasoning about the Human Good, and the Role of the Public Philosopher
- 4 On the Most Fundamental Principle of Morality
- 5 What is Natural Law Like?
- 6 Intention and Side Effects
- 7 Intention and Side Effects
- 8 John Finnis on Thomas Aquinas on Human Action
- 9 On Moral Philosophy and Kinds of Human Actions<sup>*</sup>
- 10 Finnis on Justice
- 11 Retributivism in the Spirit of Finnis<sup>*</sup>
- 12 The Nature of Limited Government
- 13 Pure Perfectionism and the Limits of Paternalism
- 14 ‘Lawful Mercy’ in <i>Measure for Measure</i>
- 15 The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
- 16 Constitutional and Other Persons
- 17 Bioethics after Finnis
- 18 A New Father for the Law and Ethics of Medicine
- 19 Value, Practice, and Idea
- 20 The Irony of Law
- 21 Ideas of Easy Virtue
- 22 Law and Its Theory
- 23 Finnis on Legal and Moral Obligation
- 24 Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- 25 Intention and the Allocation of Risk
- 26 The Right to Religious Liberty and the Coercion of Belief
- 27 Natural Law and the Transcendent Source of Human Fulfillment
- 28 Reflections and Responses
- Bibliography of the Published Works of John Finnis
- Index Introductory Note
