Eivind Smith – författare

Constitutional Justice under Old Constitutions confronts different national experiences within the framework of a common subject matter, viz., questions arising from the application of old constitutional texts within one system or another of judicial review. Every chapter presents valuable materials and reflections for further exploration on a comparative as well as a national basis.

The countries covered are the United States, Norway, Belgium and France; all countries having an old constitution. The following questions are dealt with:

This book deals with the role of national parliaments in the perspective of European Integration. It examines the relationship between national parliaments and the European Parliament.

In order to find a solution to the problem of the democratic deficit in the EU, Smith concludes that it is vital for European Integration to create an efficient decision making process which is best served by centralisation and majority voting. However, this runs counter to democratic legitimation, which is dependent on institutions at the national level.

The book is unique in that the description of national models for parliamentary influence is used as an example for a similar model at the European level. It is largely based on a conference which was held at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, Norway in June 1995.