Law 229.5: Constitutionalism before the Constitution

This is a seminar in the history of political and legal theory. We will explore the idea of fundamental law, illegal laws, mixed government and divided sovereignty, the development of checks and balances, and the very idea of a constitution. We will touch briefly on the Athenian and Roman constitutions, and will read texts by Aquinas, Dante, Francisco Suarez, Johannes Althusius, Edward Coke, Charles I, William Prynne, James Harrington, Locke, and Montesquieu, and documents including Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the Answer to the 19 Propositions.