Constitutional amendment, constitutional delegation and constitutional block – the plurality of the “substantive” constitution

Diverse Manifestazioni del Pluralismo

Anna Gamper

Univ. Prof. Dr., Institut für Öffentliches Recht, Staats- und Verwaltungslehre, Universität Innsbruck.

Synopsis

The article contextualizes the concepts of constitutional amendment, constitutional delegation and constitutional block with the “substantive” constitution. It examines how they communicate and how they contribute to constitutional plurality. The “substantive” constitution often transgresses formal constitutional borders, as the example of the allocation of powers in (particularly) asymmetric federal systems shows. Still, a large gap between the formal and substantive constitution is not desirable in all cases. The quasi-formalisation of “substantive” constitutional law according to the model of the constitutional block is a possible answer given by constitutional courts in defence of constitutionalism.

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