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Frontmatter -- Preface -- Foreword / Dawson, R. MacGregor -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part I: The Constitution Of Canada -- I. The Constitution Defined -- II. The Flexibility of the Constitution -- Part II. How Past Amendments Were Secured -- III. How Past Amendments Were Secured -- Part III. The Amending Process To-Day -- IV. An Address from Both Houses of Parliament -- V. The Participation of the Provinces -- VI. The Role of the British Parliament -- VII. Conflicting Views on the Amending Process -- Part IV. Proposals For A New Amending Machinery -- VIII. Changes of Procedure Advocated in the Past -- IX. An Approach to the Future -- Appendices -- Bibliography -- Index

Can constitutional amendments be unconstitutional? Using theoretical and comparative approaches, Roznai establishes the nature and scope of constitutional amendment powers by focusing on substantive limitations, looking at their prevalence in practice and the conceptual coherence of the very idea of limitations to constitutional amendment powers.

"Can constitutional amendments be unconstitutional? The problem of 'unconstitutional constitutional amendments' has become one of the most widely debated issues in comparative constitutional theory, constitutional design, and constitutional adjudication. This book describes and analyses the increasing tendency in global constitutionalism substantively to limit formal changes to constitutions. The challenges of constitutional unamendability to constitutional theory become even more complex when constitutional courts enforce such limitations through substantive judicial review of amendments, often resulting in the declaration that these constitutional amendments are 'unconstitutional'. Combining historical comparisons, constitutional theory, and a wide comparative study, [the author] sets out to explain what the nature of amendment power is, what its limitations are, and what the role of constitutional courts is and should be when enforcing limitations on constitutional amendments."--

Amendment power, constituent power, and popular sovereignty : linking unamendability and amendment procedures / Yaniv Roznai -- Constitutional theory and cognitive estrangement : beyond revolutions, amendments, and constitutional moments / Zoran Oklopcic -- Constraints on constitutional amendment powers / Oran Doyle -- Comment on Doyle's constraints on constitutional amendment powers / Mark Tushnet -- Constituting the amendment power : a framework for comparative amendment law / Thomaz Pereira -- Siey's The spirit of constitutional democracy? / Luisa Fernanda García López -- Revolutionary reform in Venezuela : electoral rules and historical narratives in the creation of the 1999 Constitution / Joshua Braver -- "Revolutionary reform" and the seduction of constitutionalism / Juliano Zaiden Benvindo -- Constitutional sunrise / Sofia Ranchordás -- Constitutional change and interest group politics : Ireland's children's rights referendum / Oran Doyle and David Kenny -- Amendment-metrics : the good, the bad, and the frequently amended constitution / Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou -- Metrics : the good, the bad, and the frequently amended constitution / James E Fleming -- Formal amendment rules and constitutional endurance : the strange case of the commonwealth Caribbean / Derek O'Brien -- Constituting "the people" : the paradoxical place of the formal amendment procedure in Australian constitutionalism / Lael K Weis -- Hard amendment cases in Canada / Kate Glover -- The French people's role in amending the constitution : a French constitutional analysis from a pure legal perspective / Jean-Philippe Derosier -- The implication of conflation of normal and "constitutional politics" on constitutional change in Africa / Duncan Okubasu -- Direct democracy and constitutional change in the US : institutional learning from state laboratories / Dr Jurgen Goossens

This innovative book blends constitutional theory with real-life political practice to explore the impact of codifying constitutional amendments on the operation of the constitution in relation to democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. It draws from comparative, historical, political and theoretical perspectives to answer questions all constitutional designers should ask themselves: - Should the constitution append amendments sequentially to the end of the text? - Should it embed amendments directly into the existing text, with notations about what has been modified and how? - Should it instead insert amendments into the text without indicating at all that any alteration has occurred? The book examines the 3 major models of amendment codification - the appendative, the integrative, and the invisible models - and also shows how some jurisdictions have innovated alternative forms of amendment codification that combine elements of more than 1 model in a unique hybridisation driven by history, law, and politics. Constitutional designers rarely consider where in the constitution to codify amendments once they are ratified. Yet this choice is pivotal to the operation of any constitution. This groundbreaking book shows why the placement of constitutional amendments goes well beyond mere aesthetics. It influences how and whether a people remembers its past, how the constitutional text will be interpreted and by whom, and whether the constitution will be easily accessible to the governed. A global tour of the high stakes of constitution-making, this book features 18 diverse and outstanding scholars from around the world - across Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, and Europe - raising new questions, opening our eyes to new streams of research, and uncovering new possibilities for constitutional design