A Grammar of Public Law

Abstract

The dominant grammar of public law is a product of abstraction that, at times, overemphasizes certainty and simplicity in a search for systematic coherence within the constitution, even where none exists. In contrast, a concern for and with political and legal practice invites a more tentative and exacting grammar, one that necessitates further questioning, resists generalities and appeals instead to a language of “more or less” and “in one sense but not in another” as part of our public law discourse. We seek a practice-oriented grammar that encourages public lawyers to think and to speak politically about the constitution. We draw on works of prominent political constitutionalists to show how they have had varying degrees of success in nurturing a more practice-oriented grammar of public law.