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The Unfulfilled Potential of the Court and Legislature Dialogue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Grégoire C. N. Webber
Grégoire C. N. Webber*
Affiliation:
McGill University
*
Grégoire C. N. Webber, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, McGill University, 3661 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1X1; gregoire.webber@elf.mcgill.ca.
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Abstract

Abstract. Constitutional scholarship has been exploring the idea that the court and the legislature engage in a dialogue over the meaning of the constitution. Yet, despite many contributions to the idea of dialogue over the last decade, its potential remains unfulfilled. The epistemological potential of dialogue remains understudied, in part because the court continues to be viewed as the supreme, if not also the sole, expounder of the constitution. For dialogue's potential to be realized, the legislature should be acknowledged as a co-ordinate actor in expounding constitutional meaning and both court and legislature should assume a disposition for dialogue.

Résumé. La littérature en matière constitutionnelle explore l'idée que la cour et le législateur s'engagent dans un dialogue sur le sens à donner à la constitution. Cependant, malgré les nombreuses contributions à l'idée du dialogue au cours de la dernière décennie, son potentiel ne s'est pas épanoui. Le potentiel épistémologique de l'idée du dialogue demeure sous-étudié, en partie parce que la cour continue d'être considérée comme étant l'entité suprême, sinon la seule entité, qui puisse développer le sens de la constitution. Pour que l'idée du dialogue puisse être actualisée, le législateur devrait être reconnu comme étant un acteur complémentaire à la cour pour développer le sens de la constitution et tant la cour que le législateur devraient être disposés au dialogue.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 443 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2009

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