Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Dennis Davis, Alan Richter and Cheryl Saunders -- Values in Australian constitutionalism / Cheryl Saunders and Megan Donaldson -- Global values and local realities : Brazilian constitutional law / Fábio Carvalho Leite and Florian F. Hoffmann -- Canada / Lorraine E. Weinrib -- Constitutions and values in three Chinese societies / Albert H.Y. Chen -- Human dignity, individual rights and equality : the core values of the Finnish Constitutional Act / Martta October and Riikka Salonen -- Constitutional and legal framework for rights protection in France / Michel Troper -- Values in German constitutional law / Dieter Grimm -- Crafting constitutional values : an examination of the Supreme Court of India / Menaka Guruswamy -- Values in Iranian constitutional law / Nazila Ghanea -- Global values and local realities : the case of Israeli constitutional law / Aeyal M. Gross -- Japan / Yasuo Hasebe -- Values in the South African Constitution / Catherine Albertyn -- Values in the UK Constitution / Jeffrey Jowell and Colm O'Cinneide -- Global constitutional values in the United States / Ruti Teitel -- Global values in the Venezuelan Constitution : some prioritisations and several incongruences / Allan R. Brewer-Carías -- Conclusion / Dennis Davis, Alan Richter and Cheryl Saunders.

The world appears to be globalising economically, technologically and even, to a halting extent, politically. This process of globalisation raises the possibility of an international legal framework, a possibility which has gained pressing relevance in the wake of the recent global economic crisis. But for any international legal framework to exist, normative agreement between countries, with very differing political, economic, cultural and legal traditions, becomes necessary. This work explores the possibility of such a normative agreement through the prism of national constitutional norms. Since 1945, more than a hundred countries have adopted constitutional texts which incorporate, at least in part, a Bill of Rights. These texts reveal significant similarities, which are examined in this book. From these national studies the work analyses the rise of constitutionalism since WWII, and charts the possibility of a consensus of values which might plausibly underpin an effective and legitimate international legal order.-- Provided by publisher.

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