A Critical Book Review of Adrian Vermeule's Common Good Constitutionalism

Abstract

Common Good Constitutionalism: Recovering the Classical Legal Tradition is the product of Adrian Vermeule's efforts to revive the classical legal theory and practice tradition. For Vermeule, the classical tradition understands law as a reasoned ordering of the law’s subjects as members of a flourishing society towards the common good. According to Vermeule, the book has two dimensions: it speaks to general principles of constitutional interpretation and the specific institutions of the United States constitutional order. However, this book is also about constitutional theory. However, Vermeule does not define or explain what he means by constitutionalism.

Keywords: common good, constitutionalism, constitutional interpretation