Judicial Review in Comparative Perspective

Judicial review of legislation has frequently been called a uniquely American institution.Professor Cappelletti casts profound doubt on the accuracy of this characterization, pointing out that our system of review has both historical antecedents and contemporary analogues.By employing the comparative approach, the author not only sheds considerable light on the philosophical underpinnings of judicial review, but reminds us once again that seemingly disparate political and legal systems are yet responses to basic problems of social ordering that are common throughout the world community.In the realm of thought, it is supremely just and right that all frontiers should be swept away.There is too little of high spiritual value scattered over the earth for any epoch to say: we are utterly self-sufficient; or even: we prefer our own. Jacob Burckhardt 1Few institutions reveal the temper of our times as clearly as judicial review of legislation.A comparative analysis of judicial review demonstrates not only that the institution represents a fascinating synthesis of two seemingly contradictory schools of thought, but also that it tells us much of our own psychological responses to the tyrannies of our age.