Characterisation in Federations: Six Countries Compared
In this work Dr. Taylor surveys the federal countries of the world and asks how they divide power among the constituent units of the federation. In so doing, he considers not only the formal constitutional text, but, far more importantly, the case law tha
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Greg Taylor
Characterisation in Federations: Six Countries Compared
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Dr. Greg Taylor Law School Monash University 3800 Vic Australia [email protected]
ISBN-10 3-540-27191-0 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York ISBN-13 978-3-540-27191-8 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Control Number: 2005932092 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springer is a part of Springer Science+Business Media springeronline.com ° Springer Berlin ´ Heidelberg 2006 Printed in Germany The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Softcover-Design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg SPIN 11516521
64/3153-5 4 3 2 1 0 ± Printed on acid-free paper
Preface
This book originated in my dissatisfaction with what I saw as the obvious deficiencies in the law of my home country, AustraHa, relating to the interpretation of the division of powers between the federation and the States as it has been developed by the High Court of Australia over the last eighty-five years. I had made myself familiar with Canadian law on the same topic; and having discovered that they do it much better there, I became curious about whether other countries did it better too. On starting to investigate this topic, I was astonished to discover that there was little comparative material available on the general topic of approaches to characterisation in the various federations of the world.* While federalism is primarily a political and social phenomenon,^ it requires legal infrastructure to make it work, and comparative analyses of this essential part of the infrastructure are missing. The very welcome revival in interest in federalism as 'a liberating and positive form of political organisation'^ made this gap in the literature particularly surprising. It is very pleasing to be able to contribute in some way towards filling it. In doing so, I have discovered that my dissatisfaction with Australian law has only increased. At the same time, however, I have also discovered that there are one or two things that are done well in the Australian law on this topic and which might profitably be presented to the wider world (and not as examples of what not to do). This book is however not a textbook. It is rather an extended essay highlighting what I consider
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