Open AccessThe Crisis of Constitutional Literalism in Australia
Author(s) -
Greg Craven
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
alberta law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1925-8356
pISSN - 0002-4821
DOI - 10.29173/alr1521
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , government (linguistics) , power (physics) , politics , meaning (existential) , political science , law and economics , constitutional interpretation , epistemology , law , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics
The article acts as an introduction to current Australian debates concerning constitutional interpretation. Since the 1920s, the dominant interpretive scheme has been "literalism." Under this theory, the High Court has concerned itself with finding meaning exclusively within the written text. This highly technical approach to constitutional interpretation has masked a political agenda of centralising power into the hands of the federal government. For this and other reasons, literalism is losing favour in Australia and several other interpretive strategies are being advanced. The article concludes by summarising the challengers to literalism, analyzing their merits and weaknesses, and suggesting a synthesis.