Book Summary of Comparative Constitutional Law
Dr. D.D. Basu is not known in legal realms by his name alone but it is because of his maturity of understanding, excellence of elucidation and simplicity of expression which ranks him at the top amongst Indian Authors known, read and acclaimed throughout India and abroad. Amongst many of his outstanding works "Comparative Constitutional Law and Comparative Federalism" have always been recognized as unparallel and incomparable works with any other book on the subject, much because of the in-depth study of special features and incidents of a Federal Constitution, from the standpoint of comparative law in addition to the exhaustive and analytical study of the theme and thought of Comparative Federalism."The eloquences of the earlier edition was superb much because of excerpts from Constitutions of almost all the developed and developing countries with cross references of decisions on the intricacies of Comparative Constitutional Law and Comparative Federalism as interpreted by numerous Courts at national and international levels."The plan of the Series of which this book is presented as the first volume, is unique and unprecedented inasmuch as though there are classical treaties on the Constitutional Law of different countries, such as the U.K. or the U.S.A., there is hardly any treatise (apart from casebooks) which discusses the principles of Constitutional Law on a comparative and global level.""There are also work on Comparative Polities or Comparative Government which deal with the provisions of different Constitutions from the institutional aspect and the working of those provisions from the political standpoint. The present work, on the other hand, is concerned with the legal interpretation of the various Constitutions and the universal propositions emerging therefrom. Though professedly a work of research, it does not offer an essay into abstruse philosophy or legal mysticism, divorced from the needs for the daily bread of the practitioner or the law reformer. It deals, critically, with burning topics which currently agitate the public mind, in different lands; for instance, the doctrines of 'basic features', 'political questions', 'separation of powers', 'rule of law', 'prospective overruling', 'due process', rights to human dignity and privacy, constitutionality of capital punishment; and suggests solutions to the problems in the background of the special circumstances of each particular country and its national Constitution which call for variations, if any, in the application of the general principles arrived at on a comparative study.""Since the study proceeds on the basis of the highest juristic principles about which there is a fair consensus amongst Judges and academicians, a particular judicial pronouncement is not taken as the last word on the point it decides, but as a deduction from or illustration of the principles enunciated. Tested on the touchstone of immanent principles, criticism would not be lacking wherever a Court has unfortunately been diverted from those principles by the gust of sentiments, political slogans or the like. Though the discussion is primarily concerned with the constitutional law of the countries which have adopted the Anglo-American system, occasional reference has been made, by way of contrast, to the Constitutions of countries like the U.S.S.R., China or France which do not have Judicial Review and cannot, therefore, offer judicial decisions containing legal interpretation of those respective Constitutions. In view of the encyclopaedic nature of this book it would not be possible to reproduce the relevant texts of the Constitutions dealt with herein. So far as foreign Constitutions are concerned, it would be advisable for the reader to keep on his table a copy of the Author's "Select Constitutions of the World" so that the reader's information might be precise and correct.