ABSTRACT
Europe is living in an era of a plurality of constitutions. But not only that: there exists even a plurality of pluralities of constitutions. Interlegality and plurality are not confined merely to EU law's relation to national legal orders but also characterize its relation to international law, which was the other addressee of the declaration of independence implicit in VanGend en Loos and Costa v ENEL. In respect of constitutional vocabulary, the principal choice for a theorist of European law has already been made: quite simply, this vocabulary is by now too ingrained an element of the language of the actors of European law to be ignored. The plurality of rival constitutional conceptions has two main sources: institutional, professional, and ideological biases and divergent legal-cultural backgrounds of the discussants. The rights dimension of modern constitutions alludes to their individualist or individualizing orientation.
