FOREWORD: CONSTITUTIONS AND CAPABILITIES: "PERCEPTION" AGAINST LOFTY FORMALISM

The Capabilities Approach (CA) holds that a key task of a nation's constitution, and the legal tradition that interprets it, is to secure for all citizens the prerequisites of a life worthy of human dignity - a core group of "capabilities" - in areas of central important to human life...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harvard law review 2007-11, Vol.121 (1), p.4
Main Author: Nussbaum, Martha C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Constitutional law
Theory
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The Capabilities Approach (CA) holds that a key task of a nation's constitution, and the legal tradition that interprets it, is to secure for all citizens the prerequisites of a life worthy of human dignity - a core group of "capabilities" - in areas of central important to human life. The purpose of this essay is to study the CA as a framework for understanding the foundations of political entitlements and constitutional law, to sketch its history, and to measure against this norm some salient aspects of our tradition of constitutional interpretation, both formerly and the 2006 Term. The essay argues that the US has had an inconstant relation to the CA, protecting some entitlements very effectively, but shying away from the protection of entitles in the area of what are usually called social and economic rights - that is, welfare rights.
ISSN:0017-811X
2161-976X