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Constitutionalism Out of a Positivist Mind Cast: The Garantismo Way

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Abstract

Among contemporary forms of constitutionalism, Luigi Ferrajoli’s Garantismo may be considered as the rather unfashionable attempt to build up a comprehensive and multi-layered theory, which still takes seriously the positivist heritage. This paper offers, in brief outline, a synthetic view of the social setting, the philosophical background, and the basic features of this conception of constitutionalism, when compared with legal positivism and other mainstream forms of (neo)constitutionalism.

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Notes

  1. Dworkin’s criticisms to ‘the model of rules’ were not taken very seriously outside of the Anglo-American world and, there, they were firmly rebutted by Hart’s followers; in the wake of the interpretive turn, that he himself patronized, Dworkin updated his views and heralded the fresh start. See Dworkin (1985, 1986, 1998).

  2. See, e.g. Bellamy and Castiglione (1996), Prieto (1997), Alexander (2001), Costa and Zolo (2001), Mazzarese (2002a, b), Carbonell (2003), Waluchow (2007), Mazzarese (2008a, b), Mazzarese and Parolari (2010), Carbonell and Jaramillo (2010). On Ferrajoli’s work see, e.g.: Gianformaggio (1993), Carbonell and Salazar (2005); and, about his latest most accomplished book (Ferrajoli 2007), the essays collected in Mazzarese (2008a, b). See also Ferrajoli (2008, 2009, 2010a, b); and Ferrajoli et al. (2009).

  3. On the origins and meaning of garantismo, see Ferrajoli (1989, p. xxiii; 2007, pp. 194ff., p. 214 fn 8). In more recent essays, as we shall see below, Ferrajoli also uses different expressions to refer to his own version of constitutionalism.

  4. As it is well-known, the US Constitution, though a clear instance of a rigid constitution as to its process of amendment, was regarded as being by no means clear about judicial review; the issue was finally settled in 1803, with the Marbury v. Madison decision of the US Supreme Court, that veritable monument of Western modern constitutionalism.

  5. There are of course other ways of questioning the sovereign value of a constitution. Where it cannot be openly despised, like in the USA, suitable tools are provided by originalist and textualist ‘theories’ of constitutional interpretation. The demagogues striving for populist democracy got unexpected support from influent academics who, from the 1980s, extolled the virtues of (idealized, fictional) parliaments against the purported moral disasters of constitutional democracy derogatorily presented as the government by the judiciary. For a recent, accurate (but by no means unquestionable), vindication of so-called democracy’s rights, see Pintore (2010).

  6. See Ferrajoli (1993), Baroncelli (1996), Costa and Zolo (2002), Carbonell (2003), Zolo (2010). The latter represents an attack on the constitutionalist utopia from the perspective of leftist political realism.

  7. On Scarpelli as a leading analytical jurist, see Ferrajoli (1999, pp. 83ff); Bobbio (2000, pp. 155–173).

  8. See Bobbio (1965), Nino (1983), Bulygin (2006). See also Hart (1958, 1967), Hoerster (1984). In contemporary Anglo-American jurisprudence, after Hart’s fine analysis, three varieties of legal positivism are usually distinguished: exclusive positivism, inclusive positivism, and ethical positivism (see, e.g. Moreso 2001; Green 2003). However, there is no correspondence with the three varieties of positivism in the text. Exclusive positivism is a mixture of epistemological and theoretical positivism, defining the concept of law in such a way to make the distinction between the law as it is and the law as it ought to be viable from an epistemic viewpoint. Inclusive positivism is basically a form of theoretical positivism: a theory of positive law focussing on the possibility that (some) morality is somehow a positive criterion of legal validity. Ethical positivism is, roughly, the normative or ideological version of exclusive positivism, bound to a democratic, legislation-centred, political morality.

  9. [Editor’s Note: As Ferrajoli explains in his contribution to this symposium, principia iuris tantum are principles external to positive law while principia iuris et in iure are principles internal to positive law].

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  1. Dipartimento di Cultura Giuridica ‘Giovanni Tarello’, Università di Genova, via Balbi 30, 16126, Genoa, Italy

    Pierluigi Chiassoni

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Chiassoni, P. Constitutionalism Out of a Positivist Mind Cast: The Garantismo Way. Res Publica 17, 327–342 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-011-9167-x

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