Australia's American Constitution and the Dismissal: How English Legal Science Marred the Founders' Vision Contributor(s): Long, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 1793641951 ISBN-13: 9781793641953 Publisher: Lexington Books OUR PRICE: $131.67 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2021 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Law | Constitutional - Law | Comparative - Law | International |
Dewey: 342.94 |
LCCN: 2021002325 |
Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6" W x 9" (1.40 lbs) 314 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: David Long traces the cause of the 1975 constitutional crisis to the influence of English legal positivism, a theory which isolates the meaning from the political scheme the text was framed to support. He shows the fundamental premise of a Constitution, framed in Convention, ratified by the people that cannot be altered without their consent, the consent of the governed. Legal positivism was adopted by the High Court in 1920 when it abolished the federal scheme and therewith the sovereign States. The responsible judge had opposed federalism at the 1897 Convention. Long examines two juristic opinions that excused the Governor-General's 1975 unprecedented dismissal of a government with the confidence of the House of Representatives. He identifies their reliance on legal positivist constitutional interpretations that are expressly rejected by the Founders. Long provides a theoretical defense of the Founders original understanding as the object of constitutional construction. |