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Constitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law." [1] These ideas, attitudes and patterns of behavior, according to one analyst, form "a dynamic political and historical process rather than as a static body of thought laid down in the eighteenth century." [2] As described by political scientist and constitutional scholar David Fellman Constitutionalism has prescriptive and descriptive uses. Law professor Gerhard Casper captured this aspect of the term in noting that "Constitutionalism has both descriptive and prescriptive connotations. Used descriptively, it refers chiefly to the historical struggle for constitutional recognition of the people's right to 'consent' and certain other rights, freedoms, and privileges…. Used prescriptively … its meaning incorporates those features of government seen as the essential elements of the … Constitution." [4] One example of constitutionalism's descriptive use is law professor Bernard Schwartz's 5 volume compilation of sources seeking to trace the origins of the Federal bill of rights. [5] Beginning with English antecedents going back to the Magna Carta (1215), the author explores the presence and development of ideas of individual freedoms and privileges through colonial charters and legal understandings. Then, in carrying the story forward, the author identifies revolutionary declarations and constitutions, documents and judicial decisions of the Confederation period and the formation of the federal Constitution. Finally, he turns to the debates over the federal Constitution's ratification that ultimately provided mounting pressure for a federal bill of rights. While hardly presenting a "straight-line," the account illustrates the historical struggle to recognize and enshrine constitutional values and principles in a constitutional order. In contrast to describing what constitutions are, a prescriptive approach addresses what a constitution should be. As presented by Canadian philosopher Wil Waluchow, constitutionalism embodies "the idea … that government can and should be legally limited in its powers, and that its authority depends on its observing these limitations. This idea brings with it a host of vexing questions of interest not only to legal scholars, but to anyone keen to explore the legal and philosophical foundations of the state."[6] One example of this prescriptive approach was the project of the National Municipal League[7] to develop a "Model State Constitution."
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