Philosophical Foundations of Constitutional Law

David Dyzenhaus is University Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of four books and many essays at the intersection of political philosophy, legal philosophy, and public law theory. In 2014/15 he was the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science in the Faculty of Law, Cambridge University. Malcolm Thorburn is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toronto. Until 2012, he held the Canada Research Chair in Crime, Security and Constitutionalism at Queen's University. He has been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University (2008); Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich (2011); the French National Centre for Criminology (CESDIP), Paris (2011); and Magdalen College, Oxford (2011-12). He is an associate editor of the New Criminal Law Review and a member of the editorial boards of Law and Philosophy and Criminal Law and Philosophy.

The book... is a successful introduction to the central questions [of constitutional law]. It provides intellectual roadmaps as well as explicit encouragement along the way to scholars who might wish to engage in this field of enquiry. It incorporates useful methodological discussions of philosophical, legal, and comparative common-law jurisdictions.

• PART I: WHAT IS A CONSTITUTION?; PART II: CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY; PART III: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND THEIR LIMITATIONS; PART IV: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND THEIR LIMITATION