The “Higher Law” Background of American Constitutional Law

Anyone wanting to find in one book the background sources for our Constitution and our constitutional heritage need go no further than reading this book. It becomes painstakingly clear why America adopted the English Common Law basis for our Constitution and not the Roman law heritage prevalent in Europe today. While it may not mean much on its face value, our English heritage gave rise to the early American practices of writing out our constitutions and signing them, judicial review, and, of course, consent of the governed. This slim book is one to read again and again.

I love reading Corwin!! Amazing scholar, so comprehensive, pertinent and astute!

Incredible book. Amazing scholarship.

The product description should have informed the buyer that this was a photocopy, possibly of a public domain source, possibly not. The hard cover is a nice addition, but does not compensate for the poor quality of the photocopy.

An excellent resource to fill the gaps on background history to America's Constitutional law. A very good read.

The author's research and writing are outstanding. Corwin presents a super narrative of the natural law developments supporting the American Constitution as provided by the works of Coke, locke, and their many predecessors. However, I was extremely disappointed with the publication when about 6 pages FELL OUT of the book as I finished reading it!!!

Edward S. Corwin is an American icon in the world of study on the US Constitution. I was preparing students for the Arizona State Congressional Hearings and this was the reference book we used to make sense of the concept of "Higher LAw." This is a must have for your personal library on the subject. Corwin Rocks!

I first read this book for a Constitutional Law class as part of my undergraduate degree in political science. I would suspect that a good many people interested in American Constitutional Law, American political history, and theory and philosophy of law are familiar with this little book. It is actually an extended essay that first appeared in the Harvard Law Review in 1928-29. Professor Edward Corwin, professor of law at Princeton, was an historian of the Constitution. Corwin begins the essay with a parallel very apt toward the sacrosanct way in which the American Constitution is regarded: 'The Reformation superseded an infallible Pope with an infallible Bible; the American Revolution replaced the sway of a king with that of a document.' Corwin quotes Thomas Paine who stated that 'in America the law is king.' He draws upon ancient Greek philosophers (most notably, Aristotle), Roman senators (Cicero), and medieval thinkers to develop the idea of higher power and higher law. Corwin looks at both the transcendent and the practical nature of the law; indeed, Corwin sees them intertwined in many ways - the common law, for example, derives from common sense principles that are derived not from developed bodies of law but rather from a more natural law. Corwin states, 'Many of the rights which the Constitution of the United States protects at this moment against legislative power were first protected by the common law against one's neighbours.' Part of the idea of common law was the authority invested in the higher power, the King, and his justices. Also, the power of the King was seen as and intended as a power of justice, not injustice. Just as authority and common law derived from natural, popular origins, so too did the idea of the limitation of human authorities (as the King was coming to be seen). Locke refers to this in his philosophy, so instrumental in the thinking of the founding fathers of the United States. The idea of the Constitutional Law being a higher law derives in part from a growing respect for the rights of individuals, a Protestant notion of 'the priesthood of all believers', and from philosophical developments. In the American Constitution, Corwin argues, 'higher law at last attainted a form which made possible the attribution to it of an entirely new sort of validity, the validity of a statute emanating from the sovereign people.' This has led to an age of juriprudence unprecedented since the time of Justinian. This essay holds up well over time, and gives a good historical and theoretical underpinning to understanding the Constitution of the United States, so much examined as the Supreme Court gains two new members in short order.