Full Description
This book explores the historical foundations of holding public authorities accountable for their acts, and discusses how and why the idea that the state should or should not be held liable became established in three significant jurisdictions. The issue of state liability for legislative acts is considered one of the most difficult and controversial problems in jurisprudence. This book analyses the development of concepts and institutions of liability for the acts of legislator pertaining to the general principles of state liability until the mid-20th century in the leading European legal systems: Germany, France and Great Britain. It is shown that, in contrast to the prevailing conviction, the lack of liability for law-making instruments was not an unassailable dogma, and that questions as to whether such liability was possible were being asked from the Middle Ages onwards. The book will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the areas of Constitutional Law, Public Law, History of Law, History of Legal and Political Thought, Philosophy of Law, and Comparative Legal Studies.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part One : The Institutions and Concepts of State Liability in Selected Legal Systems until the End of the 18th Century
Chapter I: Ancient Greece and Rome
Chapter II: The Middle Ages
Chapter III: The early modern era
Summary of Part One
Part Two: The Development of Contemporary Systems of State Liability for Acts of the Public Authorities
Chapter IV: Germany
Chapter V: France
Chapter VI: England
Summary of Part Two
Part Three: The Problems Associated with State Liability for Legislative Acts
Chapter VII: Liability for acts of the legislator in German scholarship and law
Chapter VIII: Recognition of liability for acts of the legislator in French scholarship and law
Chapter IX. The dogma of lack of liability for acts of the legislator in English scholarship and law
Summary of Part Three
Concluding remarks
Reference list
List of quoted normative instruments
List of quoted judgments
