La costituzione fuori del suo tempo. Dottrine, testi e pratiche costituzionali nella Longue durée

Is the constitution, in the sense of a written normative text, a typical product of the Age of Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, or did it also exist in another form in the societies of the Ancien Régime? This essay takes this question as its starting point and suggests in answer a new way which places the history of the constitution in the Longue Durée. The premise is that not only did the constitution exist under the so-called “absolute monarchy”, but it was even written down. The novelty introduced into public law and institutional organisation by the French Revolution wasn’t the writing itself but the nature of the writing, i.e. the aim was to pass from normative texts scattered throughout the political case law of the ancient sovereign courts of justice called parlements to the use of short texts divided into comprehensible, transparent and verifiable articles, both from the point of view of their significance and concrete effects by all.