Introduction: Australia as a Federal Commonwealth

THE CONSTITUTION OF A FEDERAL COMMONWEALTH: THE MAKING AND MEANING OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION, Cambridge University Press, 2009

University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law Research Paper No. 1369003

10 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2009

See all articles by Nicholas Aroney

Nicholas Aroney

The University of Queensland - T.C. Beirne School of Law; Emory University - Center for the Study of Law and Religion

Abstract

This book offers an exposition of the idea, proclaimed in the Preamble to the Australian Constitution, that Australia is a federal commonwealth. Original sources are analyzed, neglected writers are brought to light, and conceptual frameworks are evaluated. The book takes careful account of the influence which the American, Canadian and Swiss Constitutions had upon the framers of the Australian Constitution, and shows how the framers wrestled with the problem of integrating federal ideas with inherited British traditions and their own experiences of parliamentary government. In so doing, the book explains how the Constitution came into being in the context of the groundswell of federal ideas then sweeping the English-speaking world. In advancing an original argument about the relationship between the formation of the Constitution, the representative institutions, configurations of power and amending formulas contained therein, the book sheds fresh light on the terms and structure of the Australian Constitution and marshals these insights to address a range of problems associated with the interpretation and practical operation of the Constitution.

Keywords: Australia, federalism, constitutionalism, comparative constitutional law, constitutional history, judicial interpretation, originalism, structuralism

Suggested Citation

Aroney, Nicholas, Introduction: Australia as a Federal Commonwealth. THE CONSTITUTION OF A FEDERAL COMMONWEALTH: THE MAKING AND MEANING OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION, Cambridge University Press, 2009, University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law Research Paper No. 1369003, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1369003

Nicholas Aroney (Contact Author)

The University of Queensland - T.C. Beirne School of Law ( email )

Brisbane 4072, Queensland
Australia
+61-(0)7-3365 3053 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.uq.edu.au/profile/1098/nicholas-aroney

Emory University - Center for the Study of Law and Religion ( email )

Atlanta, GA 30322
United States

HOME PAGE: http://cslr.law.emory.edu/people/senior-fellows/aroney-nicholas.html

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