'To Save the People from Themselves' Book contents
- “To Save the People from Themselves”
- Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
- “To Save the People from Themselves”
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One Legislatures and Legislation under the First American Constitutions
- 1 The Largely “Legislative” Character of the (“Horizontal” and “Vertical”) Constitutional Checks Placed on Colonial Legislatures
- 2 The Traditional Nature of the First Written Constitutions and the Role of Legislatures as Their Primary Expounders
- 3 Restoring “Legislative” Review of the Laws: The New York Constitution of 1777
- Part Two The Emergence of American Judicial Review: 1779–1787
- Part Three Judicial Review at the Federal Convention
- Index
3 - Restoring “Legislative” Review of the Laws: The New York Constitution of 1777
from Part One - Legislatures and Legislation under the First American Constitutions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 September 2021
- “To Save the People from Themselves”
- Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
- “To Save the People from Themselves”
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One Legislatures and Legislation under the First American Constitutions
- 1 The Largely “Legislative” Character of the (“Horizontal” and “Vertical”) Constitutional Checks Placed on Colonial Legislatures
- 2 The Traditional Nature of the First Written Constitutions and the Role of Legislatures as Their Primary Expounders
- 3 Restoring “Legislative” Review of the Laws: The New York Constitution of 1777
- Part Two The Emergence of American Judicial Review: 1779–1787
- Part Three Judicial Review at the Federal Convention
- Index
Summary
An “upper house” established as a check on a “lower” one, with members enjoying a longer tenure in office, and elected under more restrictive property-owning requirements, was not without precedent among the constitutions adopted in 1776. Entirely absent from the permanent frames of government adopted until that time, however, was any authority vested in a body outside the legislature to review and prevent its bills from becoming law. There had been some discussion in a number of states of restoring to governors a veto over legislative enactments, but none of the congresses and conventions, save that establishing South Carolina’s temporary constitution of 1776, had decided to do so.
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- Information
- 'To Save the People from Themselves'The Emergence of American Judicial Review and the Transformation of Constitutions, pp. 122 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021