Constitutional Interpretation: Burke and Buchanan and their 18th Century Intellectual Roots

John Considine

Constitutional Political Economy, 2006, vol. 17, issue 2, 85 pages

Abstract: There is a respectable tradition of Burkean constitutional interpretation in legal scholarship whereas Edmund Burke is a relatively neglected figure in constitutional political economy. A comparison of the constitutional interpretations of constitutional political economy and Burkean legal scholarship provides a potentially fruitful outcome for both. This is particularly so given the 18th century intellectual roots of each. An examination of the Burkean tradition demonstrates why it is methodologically inductive, evolutionary and pessimistic, compared to the deductive, individualistic and optimistic approach of the Smithian tradition of constitutional political economy. Interestingly, these sharp distinctions in method produce similar results. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006

Keywords: Constitutional interpretation; Edmund Burke; James Buchanan; A12; B4; B52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1007/s10602-006-0004-8

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