Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law

2Constitutions embedded in different legal systems

Thomas Fleiner and Cheryl Saunders

2.1 Introduction

This chapter examines how and why constitutional arrangements vary depending on the legal systems in which they are embedded. We confine our attention almost entirely to the civil law and common law legal families, with which we are most familiar. Both have their origins in Western legal thought and practice from which they have spread in varying degrees to much of the rest of the world (Mitchell & Powell, 26). Despite the considerable similarities between these families of law, however, we show that there are relatively consistent and significant differences in the constitutional concepts, doctrines, norms, and institutions found in common ...