ABSTRACT
Political actors have through the ages been moved by their understanding of the demands of justice to take leave of existing law. Typical liberal democrats are generally perceived to be at least somewhat uncomfortable with revolutionary changes and more at ease with incremental reforms of law. In liberal democratic constitutional documents, legal rules of change typically stipulate the parliamentary, judicial and administrative procedures required for changing “ordinary” law, and the constitutional amendment rules that allow for constitutional change. The essential principles of a liberal democratic constitution – John Rawls refers to them as “constitutional essentials” – are founded on principles of reason or reasonableness that everyone could reasonably be expected to endorse. Liberal democrats need to remain alert to the reality that any “enforcement” prompted by a norm – or by faith in it – never amounts to an enforcement of that norm. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
