The guarantee of free speech enshrined in the U.S. Bill of Rights draws upon two millennia of Western thought about the value and necessity of free inquiry. Acclaimed legal scholar George Anastaplo traces the philosophical development of the idea of free inquiry from Plato's Apology to Socrates to John Milton's Areopagitica. He describes how these seminal texts and others by such diverse thinkers as St. Paul, Thomas More, and John Stuart Mill influenced the formation and the earliest applications of the First Amendment. Anastaplo also focuses on the critical free speech implications of a dozen Supreme Court cases and shows how First Amendment interpretations have evolved in response to modern events. Reflections on Freedom of Speech and the First Amendment grounds its vision of America's most basic freedoms in the intellectual traditions of Western political philosophy, providing crucial insight into the legal challenges of the future through the lens of the past.

The author maintains that the Nordic constitutional legal-culture possesses some unique fundamental qualities if compared to common law or Romano-Germanic constitutional systems. The book offers a Nordic comparative perspective on the basic questions of comparative constitutional law. Also, the question of the relationship between judical review and parliamentary system is explored in the light of Nordic experiences. The author analyses the discussion on the - Constitution of Europe in its relation to the Nordic constitutional thinking, and evaluates the possible future of the Nordic tradition in the more tightly integrated Europe of tomorrow. Furthermore, Nordic constitutional thinking seems to be in a crossroads of judicial activism and self-restraint. Nordic Reflections on Constitutional Law brings together the latest development in Nordic constitutional law and highlights its possible role in Europe. Contents: Valid law in comparative constitutional law - Methodology of constitutional comparison - Constitutional foundation of legal system - Separation of powers in Nordic systems - Judicial review in Nordic systems - Nordic family of constitutionallaw - Nordic constitutional tradition and the - Constitution ouf Europe."

Legitimacy and judicial authority -- Constitutional meaning : original public meaning -- Constitutional meaning : varieties of history that matter -- Law in the Supreme Court : jurisprudential foundations -- Constitutional constraints -- Constitutional theory and its relation to constitutional practice -- Sociological, legal, and moral legitimacy : today and tomorrow

The founding fathers of the United States were the authors of the United States Constitution which has served this country well for over two centuries. This book is about judicial activism. There are two important provisions of the Constitution which are involved in this discussion. First, the Constitution provides for the separation of powers in the Federal Government. Second, the Constitution guarantees to every state in the Union a Republican form of government, which gives the people of the States the power to govern themselves. Judicial activism occurs when the United States Supreme Court exercises legislative power. President Washington cautioned those entrusted with the administration of the government to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. When the Supreme Court legislates, it tends to impair the capacity of the State governments to govern themselves. The book contains several historical sketches which describe the development of the rule of law, the development of the common law in England, the making of the United States Constitution, plus several sketches that describe some aspects of the legal systems in the United States. The rule of law was a very important concept that was acquired by the original States from their colonial experience. When the departments of the United States government do not observe and respect the separation of powers, they do not follow the rule of law. Also, included is a Chapter Entitled "The Judicial Assault on Religious Liberty".

The book is intended to be a contribution to comparative knowledge on what a final and constitutional court's role and significance are to governance in a developing country. It provides a recently retired judge's insights into the substantive work and function of the Supreme Court in Ghanaian society and Ghana's legal and political system. The book throws light on the role played by the Supreme Court in the development of Ghanaian law and the laying of the foundation for Ghana's constitutional democracy. The establishment of a constitutional democracy in Ghana has been an important factor in the nation's development and the Supreme Court has had an important role to play in this process. It will also be invaluable to both academic and practising lawyers, as well as at non-lawyers interested in the function and operations of the Supreme Court. The study of the Supreme Courts of emerging democracies should be given some emphasis in comparative law. It is hoped that the material contained in this book will contribute to the facilitation of such emphasis.