The silences of constitutions

Glossing a passage from Benjamin Constant’s Reflections on Constitutions, this article first assesses the roles performed by silences, gaps, and abeyances in constitutional texts and then examines recent initiatives that seek to fill those silences. The initiatives to fill those silences are evaluated by contrasting three conceptions of modern constitutions: the constitution as a framework for continuing political negotiation, the constitution as an order of values, and the constitution as facilitator of an evolving administrative order. The first, the framework conception, highlights the importance of political practices and in particular of the deliberative role of the legislature, the second, the value order conception, accentuates the moral dimension of constitutions and promotes the judiciary’s role as guardian of constitutional values, and the third, the administrative order conception, emphasizes technical efficacy and the key role of the executive in promoting a governmental agenda. The article concludes by raising questions about those recent approaches that seek the elimination of constitutional silences.