Book Review: To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution
| Author | Deborah Z Cass |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.22145/flr.26.2.8 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK
REVIEW
Helen
Irving,
To
Constitute ANation: ACultural History
of
Australia's Constitution,
Cambridge
University
Press, 1997.
Deborah Z
Cass*
Constitutional
law
is
not
the raciest of topics. In Australia until recently,
study
of the
Constitution
and
its legal development
was
perceived as rather arcane, the preserve of
fusty academics (like myself)
and
lacking the relevance of disciplines such as contract
or
property
law. But since the decisions in
Wik
and
Mabo, the implied rights cases,
and
even
the "People's Convention", the Constitution,
and
constitutional law,
have
been
thrust
into the public spotlight. Helen Irving's
new
book
To
Constitute aNation makes a
colourful
and
scholarly contribution to both academic
and
popular
knowledge
on
the
subject. It brings constitution-making
out
of the closet
and
into the living
room
of
public opinion.
The book makes three
main
claims. The first is
that
the movement to federate
and
the making of the Constitution were
not
the
product
only of political
and
legal events
but
arose from the complex cultural conditions of the period, hence the book's
secondary title,
"A
Cultural History of Australia's Constitution". The second
and
related claim is
that
aconstitution does
not
spring from the political
and
legal spheres
alone;
it
must
also be present
in
the (hearts and) minds of individuals involved
in
the
process of constitution-making
and
the collective consciousness of the community.
In
the
words
of Benedict Andersen,
whom
Helen Irving follows, the Constitution,
and
indeed
the
nation
itself,
must
be "imagined" before politics
and
law
can
bring
it
into
existence. The final
argument
is
that
the Australian Constitution is aderivative
instrument; ahotch potch of constitutional techniques
and
experiences,
and
this
hybridisation is a
product
of the
utopian
environment
in
which the Constitution
was
made.
The defining feature of Helen Irving's book is
that
she has written acultural history
as
opposed
to apolitical or legal history of the making of the Constitution.
Conventional legal
and
political histories of Federation have told a
somewhat
dry,
but
functional tale, focussed largely
upon
alimited
group
of historical participants
and
Senior
Lecturer
in
Law,
Australian
National
University.
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