Book Review: Constitutions of Nations
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600114 |
| Author | F. R. Scott |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
63
CONSTITUTIONS
OF
NATIONS.
By
Amos
J.
Peaslee.
1950.
(Concord,
N.H.:
The
Rumford
Press.
3
vols;
807,
823,
839
pp.
$22.50
U.S.)
It
is
a
somewhat
formidable
task
to
attempt
to
review
this
first
compilation
in
the English
language
of
all
the national constitutions
of
the
world.
No
less
than
83
nations
are
represented
in
these
three
volumes
by
their
principal
constitutional
documents, to
which
the
editor
has
added
a
general
summary,
a
short
introduction for
each
country,
appendices,
bibliographies
and
copious
footnotes.
It
is
indeed
a
monumental
collection
of
the world's
fundamental
laws.
Most valuable
are
the
statistical
comparisons
and
tables;
one
becomes
fascinated
at
the
results
that
are
achieved
by
searching out
the
common
features
of all
the
written
texts.
Mr.
Peaslee
points out,
for
example,
that
seventy
per
cent
of
the constitutions
are
less
than
twenty-
five
years
old
(Canada's
being
the
ninth
oldest
in
the
world);
only
twenty-nine per
cent,
covering
less
than
ten
per
cent
of
the
population,
are
Monarchies
or
Principalities;
ninety
per
cent with
ninety-seven per
cent
of
the
world's
population, favour
the
concept
that
sovereignty
resides
in
the
people
or
in
a
sovereign
and
the people;
the
vast
majority
contain
some
declaration
of
popular
rights
and
civil
liberties;
sixty
per
cent
are
bi-cameral;
only
13
are
federal.
What
emerges
from
these
analyses
is
a
feeling of
the
growing
unity
of
human
experience
in
the
field of
constitution-making,
however
much
one
form
of
government
may
differ
from another.
No
doubt
the
facts
of
political
life
differ
more
than
the
rules
of law,
and
in
practice
the
freedom
of
speech
written
in
to
the Russian
constitution
produces
consequences
quite
unlike
those
resulting
from
the
freedom
of
speech
guaranteed
in
the
American
con-
stitution;
nevertheless
both
peoples
subscribe
to
the
same
formal
concept.
This
is
true
for
so
many
of
the
aspects
of
government
in
so
many
coun-
tries that
believers
in
the
eventual
formation
of
a
central world
authority
are
likely
to
take
great
encouragement
from these
volumes.
Here
are
the
bricks,
surprisingly
similar in function
and
design,
from
which
the
larger
building
might
be
built.
It
would
be
unfair to expect
that
the
mass
of
material
in
this
first
edition
would
not
suffer
from
some
errors
and
omissions.
To
deal
with
ground
familiar
to
Canadian
students,
one
is
surprised
to
find
that
the
Statute
of
Westminster
appears
among
the
texts
for
Canada,
with
a
reference
only
in
the
United
Kingdom
and
New
Zealand
documents.
Missing
from
our
laws
is
the
important
amendment
to the
B.N.A.
Act
of
1946.
New
Zealand
rejoices
in
no
less
than
19
statutes
as
part
of
her
constitution,
several
of
which
would
appear
to
be
peripheral
to
the
fundamental
law;
yet
the
important
Constitutional
Amendment
Act
of
1947
is
missing.
South Africa
is
listed
as
a
federal
state.
For the
United
Kingdom, admittedly
a
difficult
country
to
provide
with
a con-
stitutional
text,
we
have
of
course
Magna
Carta
and the
Bill
of
Rights,
but
also
such
rarities
as
the
Statute
Concerning
Tallage
of
1297,
and
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