Pierre AVRIL - Constitutional Enchantment and Disenchantment under the Fifth Republic

Pouvoirs n°126 - La Ve République - septembre 2008 - p.5-16

Since 1789, our constitutional history has been dominated by an illusion which can be expressed in Austin’s famous title : How to do things with words. It has led to a succession of enthusiasms and disappointments of which the Fifth Republic is an instructive digest. This experience has been first a lesson in constitutional realism which has highlighted the political nature of the law enacted in texts together with the limits of an exclusively juridical approach. Conversely, while the introduction of judicial review has reinforced the rule of law, its implementation has also revealed a number of unintended negative effects such as the multiplication of revisions and the trivialization of the Constitution, now accentuated by the domination of the European order. Résumé

Référence électonique : Pierre AVRIL, "Constitutional Enchantment and Disenchantment under the Fifth Republic", Pouvoirs, revue française d’études constitutionnelles et politiques, n°126, 2008, p.5-16. Consulté le 01-06-2012. URL : http://www.revue-pouvoirs.fr/Constitutional-Enchantment-and.html