ABSTRACT
In his Laws, Plato perceived constitution-making as an act signifying a new beginning which imposes laws on a political community. The prescribed constitution
determines the nature of laws and the lawgiver has to enjoy the respect of those
subjected to the laws. The lawgiver’s wisdom makes people recognize the rule of
This picture shows that constitution-making is inseparable from the problems
of the temporality of political action and transcendental normativity. When does the
constitution-maker choose to set up a new normative order? Does this order have
specific symbolic meaning? Does it reflect existing culture and history, or does it
deny them? These questions indicate that any attempt to analyse constitutionalism
must address general issues of legal symbolism, cultural and moral elements in the
system of positive law and, therefore, relations between law, politics and morality.
