The Constitution of a Federal Commonwealth: The Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution

by Nicholas Aroney

Overview

By analysing original sources and evaluating conceptual frameworks, this book discusses the idea proclaimed in the Preamble to the Constitution that Australia is a federal commonwealth. Taking careful account of the influence which the American, Canadian and Swiss Constitutions had upon the framers of the Australian Constitution, the author 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, light is shed on the terms and structure of the Constitution and a range of problems associated with its interpretation and practical operation are addressed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521716895
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/19/2009
Pages:	446
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.90(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Aroney is a Reader in Law at the T. C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, a member of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law and a fellow of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law at the University of Queensland.

Table of Contents

Preface; Table of statues and executive instruements; Table of cases; Introduction: Australia as a federal commonwealth; Part I. Federalism: 1. Conceptualising federalism; 2. Reframing the analysis; Part II. Federating Australia: 3. Models and sources; 4. Australian appropriations; 5. Constitutional foundations; 6. Formative institutions; Part III. Australian Federation: 7. Principles of representation; 8. Representative institutions; 9. The states and the Commonwealth; 10. Configurations of power; 11. Amendment procedures; Part IV. Conclusions: 12. A federal commonwealth; Select provisions; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

" ... I cannot think of higher praise of Dr. Aroney's book, The Constitution of a Federal Commonwealth: The Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution. ... [His book] is as important as its subject is fascinating ... . Dr. Aroney makes a compelling case."
—Hon. Justice Patrick Keane, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland

From the Publisher