Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book with first volume of Constitutional Law essays published in this Dartmouth series will recall that its contents focused exclusively on the law and politics of the USA. This volume contains an eclectic, collection of essays. The collection recognizes that public lawyers - certainly in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth -enter the new millennium faced with a tremendous challenge and opportunity in respect both of their teaching and their research activities. The essay is quite narrowly focused in empirical terms, but it does a particularly good job of drawing out the general implications of specific judgments. The essays chosen for inclusion in this volume are intended to cross various boundaries -geographical, chronological and interdisciplinary. Thompson's essay can also readily be seen as an oblique comment on the constitutional controversy that was gripping South Africa in the mid-1950s.