The New Contractarians

Judicial Review and Constitutional Maintenance: John Marshall, Hans Kelsen, and the Popular Will

“…Moreover, what it commits to is open to evolution and change in a far more expansive way than is the expectation of action under a contract." In fact, I agree with Hardin's (1988) claim that "the very analogy to contract is wrong insofar as contracts require sanctions to back them"-or Gordon's (1976) complaint that:…”

From contract to mental model: Constitutional culture as a fact of the social sciences

“…Instead, it emphasizes formal, contractual mechanisms (see, e.g., Buchanan 1990Buchanan , 1975Brennan and Buchanan 1985; for commentary and critique, see also Hardin 1988;Gordon 1976). 1 Even a culturally aware economist such as Jones (2006, 110) writes that "liberty and property are preserved by the law, and not by values."…”

“…I suspect there exits a "measurability bias" of sorts in economics (which is, after all, the mother discipline of constitutional political economy): culture does not fit into tidy models or econometric regressions, so it is simpler to assume it away (seeJones 2006; see alsoEvans 2007, commenting on Boulding 1974Chamlee-Wright 1997;Tilly 2003; and Lavoie and Chamlee-Wright 2000, 42).2 Voigt (1996) explains that "whereas Buchanan is clearly leading the contract notion of the constitution,Hayek [e.g., 1979Hayek [e.g., [1973Hayek [e.g., , 1976Hayek [e.g., , 1979 and 1988) is almost as clearly leading the notion of the constitution as the result of cultural evolution"; see alsoHardin (1988) andGordon (1976).…”

The League of Nations covenant and the United Nations charter: An analysis of two international constitutions

“…This structure led the League to be called by Germany a victors' club (Northedge 1986, Scott 1973). Buchanan, Rawls, and Nozick all argue that it is the process by which the social contract is formed which determines its fairness (Gordon 1976). The legitimacy and fairness of the social contract stem from the voluntary nature of the agreement.…”