David J. Gerber, President
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
565 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60661-3691
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: (312) 906-5032
Franklin Gevurtz, Secretary
University of the Pacific
McGeorge School of Law
32200 Fifth Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95817
Mortimer Sellers, Treasurer
University of Baltimore School of Law
1420 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Dear Colleague,
http://www.ascl.org
I am writing to you in my capacity as General Reporter on Constitutional Law for the World Congress of
the International Association of Comparative Law (IACL/AIDC), to be held in Fukuoka, Japan, 22 to 28
July, 2018. I am delighted to hear that you have been selected as a National Reporter on Constitutional
Law. Together we have been invited to address the topic of "Formal and Informal Constitutional
Amendment". I am looking forward very much to working with you on this important report.
We shall be given an opportunity to discuss our topic publicly in Fukuoka. More important, we have also
been asked to contribute chapters to a volume on Formal and Informal Constitutional Amendment, to be
published in the Springer book series Ius Comparatum: Global Studies in Comparative Law, and edited by
me. This will be a permanent record of our findings and a valuable addition to legal science.
I very much hope that you will be present in Fukuoka, but if circumstances prevent you from attending, I
shall still consider your chapter for publication, as it is my aim to create a volume of the highest possible
quality. I also propose to solicit further special reports, so if you know of a scholar with useful insights
on constitutional amendment please let me know. I want this volume to be both as useful and as
inclusive as possible.
Please send me a copy of your report and draft chapter if you can by July 15, 2017. This will make it
possible for me to edit your reports, ask for revisions or elaborations, and prepare the volume prior to
our gathering in Fukuoka. If this timing is difficult for you or if you have any other questions about your
report, our volume, or any other aspect of this project, please ask me for clarification or assistance by
email at [email protected]. I am eager to be in touch with you.
To encourage your work, provoke your reflection, and coordinate our efforts a bit, I am providing a list
of questions (below) that you should consider in preparing your report and chapter for publication. This
list of questions should not constrain you from also addressing other related questions that you consider
important. Your primary task is to provide a scholarly and detailed evaluation of the process by which
constitutional amendment and constitutional change take place in your own legal system, through both
formal and informal channels.
Thank you for being a part of this effort. I very much look forward to working with you on such an
important and interesting project!
Best regards,
M.N.S. Sellers
General Rapporteur on Constitutional Law, IACL General Congress (Fukuoka)
and Regents Professor, University System of Maryland
IACL XX GENERAL CONGRESS
Fukuoka, July 22-28, 2018
____________________________________________________
QUESTIONS FOR RAPPORTEURS ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
(Formal and Informal Constitutional Amendment)
1. Our first and overarching question is: by what processes, both formal and informal, does
constitutional amendment and constitutional change take place in your legal system?
2. This leads to the second question: how does the text of your constitution (if there is such a text)
address the question of constitutional amendment or constitutional change?
3. Notwithstanding this text (or absence of text) , how does amendment or change actually take
place?
4. What is the attitude of those who study your legal system to the processes through which
amendments and changes do (or should) take place?
5. What are the greatest strengths, as you see it, of existing approaches to constitutional
amendment and constitutional change in your legal system?
6. What are the greatest weaknesses of current approaches?
7. What is the role of the executive in constitutional amendment or constitutional change in your
legal system?
8. What is the role of the legislature in constitutional amendment or constitutional change?
9. What is the role of judges?
10. What is the role of lawyers?
11. What is the role of scholars?
12. What is the role of citizens?
13. Who are the others players in the process of constitutional amendment or constitutional
change?
14. Do outside forcess, such as transnational legal institutions, play a role?
15. Do treaties or international agreements play a role?
16. Do intergovernmental organizations play a role?
17. Do non-governmental organizations play a role?
18. What are the trends in the development of these processes?
19. How do you evaluate these trends?
20. Are foreign examples influential?
21. What lessons do the experience, strengths and weaknesses of your legal system offer the rest of
the world, in relation to questions of constitutional amendment and constitutional change?