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²¹ Bodin, J and Franklin, JH (ed), Bodin: On Sovereignty (CUP 2004) 10Google Scholar : ‘for if we say that to have absolute power is not to be subject to any law at all, no prince of this world will be sovereign, since every earthly prince is subject to the laws of God and of nature and to various human laws that are common to all peoples’ [Six Livres de law Republique (1576), Book I, Ch 8]. See Beaulac, S, ‘The Social Power of Bodin's “Sovereignty” and International Law’ (2003) 4 MelbJIntlL 1, 13–15Google Scholar.

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³⁴ See generally Bodenheimer, E, ‘Significant Developments in German Legal Philosophy since 1945’ (1954) 3 AmJCompL 379Google Scholar; Cole, T, ‘The West German Federal Constitutional Court: An Evaluation after Six Years’ (1958) 20(2) Journal of Politics 278, 302–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rommen, H, ‘Natural Law in Decisions of the Federal Supreme Court and of the Constitutional Courts in Germany’ (1959) 4 NatLF 1Google Scholar; Rommen (n 15).

³⁵ See Dietze, G, ‘Unconstitutional Constitutional Norms? Constitutional Development in Postwar Germany’ (1956) 42 VaLRev 1Google Scholar; Herdegen, MJ, ‘Unjust Laws, Human Rights, and the German Constitution: Germany's Recent Confrontation with the Past’ (1995) 32 ColumJTransnatlL 591Google Scholar; Rommen ‘Natural Law’ ibid 17–19.

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³⁹ Decision from April 4, 1950, 2 Verwaltungs-Rechtsrechung No 65, quoted in Dietze (n 35) 15–16 and in Bachof, O, Verfassungswidrige Verfassungsnormen? (JCB Mohr 1951) 15Google Scholar. Interestingly, based upon this para, Judge Sussman of the Israeli Supreme Court recognized the existence of supra-constitutional norms stemming from natural law which are supreme to any law. See Yeredor v Chairman, Central Election Committee for the Sixth Knesset, 19(2) PD 365, 390 [1965] (Isr); Guberman, S, ‘Israel's Supra-Constitution’ (1967) 2 IsLR 455, 458Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ 1 BverfGE 14, 32 (1951); see Gözler, K, Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments: A Comparative Study (Ekin Press 2008) 84–6Google Scholar.

⁴¹ 3 BverfGE 225, 234 (1953), see Dietze (n 35) 17–19; Cole (n 34) 303; Gözler ibid 86–7; Kommers, DP, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (Duke University Press 1989) 55Google Scholar.

⁴² Bachof (n 39). I thank Marjorie Kaufman for translating Bachof's book from German to Hebrew.

⁴³ ibid 29–32.

⁴⁴ ibid 47–57.

⁴⁵ Bachof, O, Normas Constitucionais Inconstitucionais? Trad. e nota prévia de José Manuel M. Cardoso da Costa. (Coimbra 1977) (Republished in 1994)Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ On Bachof's influence see the following experience in post-dictatorship Portugal. In 1975, the Council of the Revolution issued a Constitutional Law (8/75) which declared the dictatorship political police (abolished after the Revolution) to be a terrorist organization. On this basis, former prime ministers and home ministers were incriminated. Law 8/75 had a constitutional status which allegedly prevented any claim of unconstitutionality. However, in one case, a military court (which had an authority to adjudicate crimes based upon this law) invoked Bachof's theory to find that the law, due to its retroactive nature, contradicted supra-constitutional norms. This argument was nevertheless rejected by the Supreme Military Court. See Opinion no. 9/79 from the Constitutional Commission (Pareceres da Comissão Constitucional, vol. 8, 3ff). This is taken from Teles, MG, ‘Ex Post Justice, Legal Retrospection, and Claim to Bindingness’, in Silva, A et al. (eds) Liber Amicorum de José de Sousa Brito (Almedina 2009) 430–1Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Gözler (n 40) 61.

⁴⁸ For a recent summary of the idea of ‘unconstitutional constitutional amendments’ in Ireland see Kavanagh, A, ‘Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments from Irish Free State to Irish Republic’, in de Baere, G and Cloots, E (eds), Federalism and EU Law (Hart Publishing 2012) 45Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ On the origins of the Irish Constitution see Delany, VTH, ‘The Constitution of Ireland: Its Origins and Development’ (1957) 12(1) UTorontoLJ 1Google Scholar; Taylor, P, ‘The Creation and Amendment of Constitutional Norms in Ireland’ in Andenas, M (ed), The Creation and Amendment of Constitutional Norms (BIICL 2000) 206Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ See Phillips, OH, ‘Ryan's Case’ (1936) 52 LQR 241Google Scholar.

⁵¹ 28 [1935] IR 170, 236. See also Phillips ibid; Clarke, O, ‘The State (Ryan) v Lennon: A Victory for Man over God?’ (2007) 15 ISLR 136Google Scholar.

⁵² 28 [1935] IR 170, 200–2.

⁵³ ibid 218–19.

⁵⁴ ibid 204–5; See O'Sullivan, A and Chan, PCW, ‘Judicial Review in Ireland and the Relationship between The Irish Constitution and Natural Law’ (2006) 15 NottinghamLJ 18, 33Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ 28 [1935] IR 170, 205, 236.

⁵⁶ See Kavanagh (n 48).

⁵⁷ See Grogan, V, ‘The Constitution and the Natural Law’ (1954) 8 Christus Rex 201Google Scholar; Costello, D, ‘The Natural Law and the Irish Constitution’ (1956) 45(18) Studies: An Irish Q Rev 403Google Scholar.

⁵⁸ O'Sullivan and Chan (n 54) 19–22. See also Cannon, R, ‘Matters of Irish Constitutional Debate: Originalism, Democracy and Natural Law’ (1995) 5 ISLR 22Google Scholar; Lewis, VB, ‘Natural Law in Irish Constitutional Jurisprudence’ (1997) 2 Catholic Social Science Review 171CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁶⁰ Clarke, DM, ‘The Constitution and Natural Law: A Reply to Mr Justice O'Hanlon’ (1993) 11 Irish Law Times 177, 179Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Cannon (n 58) 28–9.

⁶² [1995] IESC 9; 1 IR 1, 38; see O'Connell (n 1) 61–6; O'Sullivan and Chan (n 54) 32.

⁶³ Whyte, GF, ‘Natural Law and the Constitution’ (1996) 14 Irish Law Times 8, 10Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Duncan, W, ‘Can Natural Law Be Used in Constitutional Interpretation?’ (1995) 45 Doctrine and Life 125, 127Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ Doyle, O, ‘Legal Validity: Reflections on the Irish Constitution’ (2003) 25 DublinUniLJ 56, 65–7Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ O'Sullivan and Chan (n 54) 19–22. See also Kavanagh (n 48): ‘For the time being, the matter seems closed as a matter of legal doctrine: the Irish Supreme Court will not stand in the way of an amendment to the Constitution supported by the people in a referendum.’

⁶⁷ Riordan v An Taoiseach, [1999] IESC 1, 4: ‘There can be no question of a constitutional amendment properly placed before the people and approved by them being itself unconstitutional’; Hanafin v Minister of the Environment, [1996] 2 ILRM 61, 183: ‘No organ of the State, including this Court, is competent to review or nullify a decision of the people’; and ibid 183: ‘The will of the people as expressed in a referendum providing for the amendment of the Constitution is sacrosanct and if freely given, cannot be interfered with. The decision is theirs and theirs alone.’ All cited in Jacobsohn (n 1) 469.

⁶⁸ Halmai (n 1) 182. I would perhaps constrict that observation to claim that in Ireland, the amendment power is not limited by natural law. This, however, might not necessarily mean that it may not be limited by other limits, such as explicit limits (eg the Anglo-Irish Treaty) or implicit limits (for instance, if a constitutional amendment attempts to change the very basic structure of the constitution).

⁶⁹ Garlicki, L and Garlicka, ZA, ‘External Review of Constitutional Amendments? International Law as a Norm of Reference’ (2011) 44 IsLR 343, 355Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ ibid 356.

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⁷² In this article I do not reach such high level of abstraction as to engage with the complex issue of whether natural law exists or not.

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⁷⁴ van den Haag, E, ‘Not Above the Law’ (1991) 43(18) National Review 25, 27Google Scholar (claiming that various questions such as slavery, gender equality and capital punishment received opposing and supporting arguments based on natural law grounds).

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⁸⁰ Henkin, L, International Law: Politics and Values (Martinus Nijhoff 1995) 27, 168CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁸² UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217A (III) <www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b3712c.html>.

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⁸⁴ Kunz (n 76) 954. The revival of international law arrived much earlier than World War II. See Haines, CG, Revival of Natural Law Concepts (Harvard University Press 1930)Google Scholar.

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⁸⁸ See for instance in the United States, Atkins v Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), Lawrence v Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) and in Australia Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37; (2004) 208 ALR 124.

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⁹⁴ Zilbershats, Y, ‘The Role of International Law in Israeli Constitutional Law’ (1997) 4 Mishpat U'Mimshal 47, 56Google Scholar (Hebrew).

⁹⁵ Valdés, JT, ‘Poder constituyente irregular: los límites metajurídicos del poder constituyente originario’ (2008) 6(2) Estudios Constitucionales 121Google Scholar.

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¹⁰⁰ African Union, African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, 30 January 2007 <www.africa-union.org/root/au/Documents/Treaties/text/Charter%20on%20Democracy.pdf>.

¹⁰¹ Art 3 of the Statute of The Council of Europe 1949, 87 UNTS 103, ETS 1 <http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/001.htm>.

¹⁰² Backer, LC, ‘God(s) over Constitutions: International and Religious Transnational Constitutionalism in the 21st Century’ (2007–08) 27 MississippiCollLRev 11, 16–17Google Scholar. On the emergence of ‘global constitutionalism’ see eg Zumbansen, P, ‘Comparative, Global and Transnational Constitutionalism: The Emergence of a Transnational Legal-Pluralist Order’ (2012) 1(1) Global Constitutionalism 16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹⁰⁵ Samar (n 1) 691–3.

¹⁰⁶ Herdegen (n 35) 605.

¹⁰⁷ One may wonder about the ICTY's choice of words, as a distinction exists between illegality and illegitimacy. See generally Roberts, AE, ‘Legality vs Legitimacy: Can Uses of Force be Illegal but Justified?’ in Alston, P and Macdonald, E (eds), Human Rights, Intervention, and the Use of Force (OUP 2008) 206–8Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁸ Prosecutor v Furundzija, Case No IT-95-17/1-T, Trial Chamber, Judgment, 10 December 1998, paras 155–157 (dictum) <www.icty.org/x/cases/furundzija/tjug/en/fur-tj981210e.pdf>.

¹⁰⁹ Garlicki and Garlicka (n 69) 359–63.

¹¹⁰ See Schnably (n 99) 422.

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¹¹² Kunz, JL, ‘The “Vienna School” and International Law’ (1934) 11 NYULQRev 370, 402Google Scholar.

¹¹³ Fitzmaurice, G, ‘the General Principles of International Law Considered from the Standpoint of the Rule of Law’ (1957) 92 Recueil Des Cours 85Google Scholar.

¹¹⁴ Akehurst, MB and Malanczuk, P, Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law (7th edn, Routledge 1997) 63Google Scholar.

¹¹⁵ See VCLT (n 96).

¹¹⁶ See also art 27(2–3) to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations, 1986 and art 3 of the Draft on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. More specifically with regard to domestic constitutional law see United Nations Declaration of the Rights and Duties of States, Annex to UNGA Res No 375 (IV), UNGA Off Rec 4th Sess, Resolutions, (1949) 67, art 13: ‘Every State has the duty to carry out in good faith its obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law, and it may not invoke provisions in its constitution or its laws as an excuse for failure to perform this duty’; Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, s. 155 cmt b (1987): ‘A State cannot adduce its constitution or its laws as a defense for failure to carry out its international obligations.’

¹¹⁷ A de Hoogh, ‘The Relationship between National Law and International Law in the Report of the Georgia Fact-Finding Mission’ (4 January 2010) EJIL: Talk! <www.ejiltalk.org/the-relationship-between-national-law-and-international-law-in-the-report-of-the-georgia-fact-finding-mission/>.

¹¹⁸ Case of the ‘Montijo’: Agreement between the United States and Colombia of 17.08.1874, award of 26.7.1875, cited in Peters, A, ‘Supremacy Lost: International Law Meets Domestic Constitutional Law’ (2009) 3 ICL 170, 183–4Google Scholar.

¹¹⁹ Avis Consultatif du 4 février 1932, Série A/B No 44, 24. See Hudson, MO, ‘International Engagements and Their Interpretation by the Permanent Court of International Justice’ in Kidd, AM and Radin, M (eds), Legal Essays: In Tribute to Orrin Kip McMurray (University of California Press 1935) 190Google Scholar.

¹²⁰ The question of the relationship between international and regional law (especially EU law) seems even more complicated. See Posch, A, ‘The Kadi Case: Rethinking The Relationship between EU Law and International Law?’ (2009) 15 ColumJEurL 1Google Scholar; d'Aspremont, J and Dopagne, F, ‘Two Constitutionalism in Europe: Pursuing and Articulation of the European and International Legal Orders’ (2009) 69 HeidelbergJIntlL (ZaöRV) 939Google Scholar; De Sena, P and Vitucci, MC, ‘The European Courts and the Security Council: Between Dedublement Fonctionnel and Balancing of Values’ (2009) 20(1) EJIL 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nollkaemper, A, ‘The European Courts and the Security Council: Between Dédoublement Fonctionnel and Balancing of Values: Three Replies to Pasquale De Sena and Maria Chiara Vitucci’ (2009) 20(3) EJIL L 862CrossRefGoogle Scholar; de Búrca, G, ‘The European Court of Justice and the International Legal Order after Kadi’ (2010) 51(1) HarvIntlLJ 1Google Scholar.

¹²¹ On the national treatment of EU and ECHR law see Keller, H and Stone Sweet, A (eds), A Europe of Rights: The Impact of the ECHR on National Legal Systems (OUP 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Martinico, G and Pollicino, O (eds), The National Judicial Treatment of the ECHR and EU Laws: A Comparative Constitutional Perspective (Europa Law Publishing 2010)Google Scholar; Martinico, G, ‘Is the European Convention Going to Be ‘Supreme’? A Comparative-Constitutional Overview of ECHR and EU Law before National Courts’ (2012) 23(2) EJIL 401CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹²³ Case 11/70, Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel (1970) ECR 1125, 1134, para 3 <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:61970CJ0011:EN:PDF>.

¹²⁴ See Rekvenyi v Hungary, App No 25390/94, ECtHR Judgment of 20 May 1999 and Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie v Italy, App No 53360/99, ECtHR Judgment of 24 April 2003, in which the ECtHR examined the compatibility of constitutional provisions with the ECHR but did not establish a breach. Cited in Garlicki and Garlicka (n 69) 362–3, n 42.

¹²⁵ Alajos Kiss v Hungary, App No 38832/06, ECtHR Judgment of 20 May 2010.

¹²⁶ Sejdić and Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina, App No 27996/06, ECtHR Judgment of 22 December 2009. See Milanović, M, ‘Sejdić and Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina (ECtHR), Introductory Note’ (2010) 49(2) International Legal Materials 281CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bardutzky, S, ‘The Strasbourg Court on the Dayton Constitution: Judgment in the Case of Sejdić and Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 December 2009 (October 19, 2010)’ (2010) 6(2) Eur Const L Rev 309Google Scholar; Tran, C, ‘Striking a Balance Between Human Rights and Peace and Stability: A Review of the European Court of Human Rights Decision in Sejdic and Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina’ (2011) 18(2) Human Rights Brief 3Google Scholar.

¹²⁷ Grimm, D, ‘The Achievement of Constitutionalism and its Prospects in a Changed World’, in Dobner, P and Loughlin, M (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism (OUP 2010) 15Google Scholar.

¹²⁸ Rubenfeld, J, ‘Unilateralism and Constitutionalism’ (2004) 79 NYULRev 1971, 1973Google Scholar.

¹²⁹ Torrijo, XF, ‘International Law and Domestic Law: Definitely an Odd Couple’ (2008) 77 Rev Jur UPR 483, 489–90Google Scholar.

¹³⁰ McDougal, MS, ‘The Impact of International Law upon National Law: A Policy-Oriented Perspective’ (1959) 4 SouthDakotaLRev 25Google Scholar.

¹³¹ Nollkaemper, A, National Courts and the International Rule of Law (OUP 2011) 199–200CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹³³ Garlicki and Garlicka (n 69) 363.

¹³⁴ Rigaux (n 122) 301–6.

¹³⁵ Bryde (n 87) 210.

¹³⁶ [2009] UKHL2, para 98.

¹³⁷ For a detailed review see Schnably (n 99) 461–73.

¹³⁸ ibid 470.

¹³⁹ ibid 473.

¹⁴⁰ Butcher, GT, ‘Legal Consequences for States of the Illegality of Apartheid’ (1986) 8 HumRtsQ 404, 433Google Scholar; Jisheng, X, ‘Evolution of South Africa's Racist Constitutions and the 1983 Constitution’ (1987) 16(1) A Journal of Opinion 18Google Scholar.

¹⁴¹ SC Res 554, UN Doc S/RES/554 (17 August 1984) <http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/487/84/IMG/NR048784.pdf?OpenElement>.

¹⁴² Preuss, UK, ‘Perspectives in Post-Conflict Constitutionalism: Reflections on Regime Change through External Constitutionalization’ (2006) 51 NYLSchLRev 467, 492Google Scholar.

¹⁴³ United Nations, Charter of the United Nations, 24 October 1945, 1 UNTS XVI, www.un.org/en/documents/charter/, art 25: ‘The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.’

¹⁴⁴ Devine, DJ, ‘International Law Tensions Arising from the South African Situation 1976–1986’ (1987) Acta Juridica 165, 194Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁵ For such interpretation of the decision see Schaffer, RP, ‘The Inter-Relationship between Public International Law and the Law of South Africa: An Overview’ (1983) 32 ICLQ 277CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Zimmermann, A, ‘Is It Really All about Commitment and Diffusion? A Comment on Commitment and Diffusion: How and Why National Constitutions Incorporate International Law’ (2008) UIllLRev 253, 257–8Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁶ See Milanović, M, ‘Sejdic and Finci v Bosnia and Herzegovina’ (2010) 104(4) AJIL 636, 640CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brljavac, B, ‘Institutional Discrimination against the Minority Groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Barrier to the EU Membership’ (2012) 7(2) Research and Practice in Social Sciences 1, 9Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁷ See famously Henkin, L, How Nations Behave: Law and Foreign Policy (2nd edn, Columbia University Press 1979) 47Google Scholar: ‘It is probably the case that almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time.’ See also Koh, HH, ‘Why Do Nations Obey International Law?’ (1997) 106 YaleLJ 2599Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁸ Hale, B, ‘Argentoratum Locutum: Is Strasbourg or the Supreme Court Supreme?’ (2012) 12(1) HRLRev 65, 77Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁹ Francioni, F, ‘International Law as a Common Language for National Courts’ (2001) 36 TexIntlLJ 587Google Scholar; Nollkaemper (n 131). For an important debate on the role of domestic courts in the development and enforcement of international law see Roberts, A, ‘Comparative International Law? The Role of National Courts in International Law’ (2011) 60(1) ICLQ 57CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵⁰ Nollkaemper (n 131) 7.

¹⁵¹ ibid 8.

¹⁵² ibid 200.

¹⁵³ Kumm, M, ‘The International Rule of Law and the Limits of the Internationalist Model’ (2003) 44 VaJIntlL 19, 22–3Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁴ Nollkaemper (n 131) 166–77.

¹⁵⁵ Grimm, D, ‘The Basic Law at 60: Identity and Change’ (2010) 11(1) GermanLJ 33, 45Google Scholar. But see the German Constitutional Court Cases BVerfGE 37, 327 (Solange I), BVerfGE 73, 339 (Solange II) and VerfGE 89, 255 (Maastricht) (the Constitution Court's authority to adjudicate individual complaints is restored if EU gives lack of attention to fundamental rights).

¹⁵⁶ Compare Deener, DR, ‘Treaties, Constitutions and Judicial Review’ (1964) 4 VaJIntlL 7Google Scholar (examining ‘the extent to which powers of judicial review contribute to or shape the decisions of municipal courts in cases of conflict between a treaty and a constitution’).

¹⁵⁷ The use of international law by domestic courts is likely to intensify institutional tensions between the judiciary and governmental branches. See Mohallem, MF, ‘Book Review: National Courts and the International Rule of Law, by André Nollkaemper’ (2012) 32(3) LS 516, 522Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁸ Scelle, G, Precis du droit des gens, Principes et systematique (Vol I, Librarie du Recueil Sirey 1932) 43, 54–56Google Scholar. On Scelle's theory see in general Thierry, H, ‘The Thought of Georges Scelle’ (1990) 1 EJIL 193CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Casses, A, ‘Remarks on Scelle's Theory of “Role Splitting” (dedoublement fonctionnel) in International Law’ (1990) 2 EJIL 210, 212–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵⁹ Shany, Y, ‘Dédoublement fonctionnel and the Mixed Loyalties of National and International Judges’ in Fontanelli, F, Martinico, G and Carrozza, P (eds), Shaping Rule of Law through Dialogue: International and Supranational Experiences (Europa Law Publishing 2010) 29Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁰ cf LaGrand (Germany v United States of America), Provisional Measures, Order of 3 March 1999, ICJ Reports 1999, 9, para 28, and International Court of Justice, LaGrand Case (Germany v United States of America), Judgment of 27 June 2001, ICJ Reports 2001, 466 paras 111–115.

¹⁶¹ Shany, Y, ‘How Supreme is The Supreme Law of the Land? Comparative Analysis of the Influence of International Human Rights Treaties upon the Interpretation of Constitutional Text by Domestic Courts’ (2006) 31(2) BrookJIntlL 341, 399Google Scholar.

¹⁶² Add to this the claim that national courts hesitate to apply international or regional law if they cannot be assured that other national court will act similarly. See Benvenisti, E, ‘Judicial Misgivings Regarding the Application of International Law: An Analysis of Attitudes of National Courts’ (1993) 4 EJIL 159, 175CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weiler, JHH, ‘A Quiet Revolution: The European Court of Justice and its Interlocuters’ (1994) 26 ComPolStud 510, 521–2Google Scholar.

¹⁶³ Dupuy, PM, ‘Unity in the Application of International law at the Global Level and the Responsibility of Judges at the National Level: Reviewing Georges Scelle's “Role Splitting” Theory’, in De Chazournes, LB and Kohen, M (eds), International Law and the Quest for Its Implementation (Brill 2010) 421Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁴ See Ingham, JF, ‘Unconstitutional Amendments’ (1928–29) 33 DickLRev 161, 165–6Google Scholar: ‘If the Supreme Court, created by, and owing its authority and existence to the Constitution, should assume the power to consider the validity or invalidity of a constitutional amendment … it would be assuming the power to nullify and destroy itself, of its own force, a power which no artificial creation can conceivably possess.’

¹⁶⁵ Kumm (n 153) 24.

¹⁶⁶ Garlicki and Garlicka (n 69) 364.

¹⁶⁷ de Búrca, G and Gerstenberg, O, ‘The Denationalization of Constitutional Law’ (2006) 47(1) HarvIntlLJ 243, 258Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁸ Paulus, A, ‘National Courts and the International Rule of Law: Remarks on the Book by André Nollkaemper’ (2012) 4 JrslmRevLegalStud 9Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁹ Albi, A, ‘Supremacy of EC Law in the new Member States: Bringing Parliament into the Equation of Co-operative Constitutionalism’ (2007) 3 EurConstLRev 25Google Scholar. See also Kwiecień, R, ‘The Primacy of European Union Law over National Law under the Constitutional Treaty’ (2005) 6(11) GermanLJ 1479, 1487–8Google Scholar : ‘Unlike the ECJ, the national courts comparatively seldom justified primacy by the autonomy of the Community legal order … The national courts thus reject the hierarchy of legal acts, within which the acts of national law, including the Constitutions, are subject to the supremacy of Community law.’

¹⁷⁰ Paulus (n 168) 16. cf Görgülü Case 2 BvR 1481/04 (14 October 2004) BVerfGE 111, 307 at para 34 <www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/entscheidungen/rs20041014_2bvr148104en.html>: ‘The Basic Law is clearly based on the classic idea that the relationship of public international law and domestic law is a relationship between two different legal spheres and that the nature of this relationship can only be determined from the viewpoint of domestic law only by domestic law itself.’

¹⁷¹ Nollkaemper himself recognizes that in order for international claims to be adjudicated in domestic courts ‘international law has to be valid in national law’. Nollkaemper (n 131) 68–74.

¹⁷² Kelsen (n 111) 420.

¹⁷³ See Deener, DR, ‘Comment: International Law Provisions in Post-World War II Constitutions’ (1951) 36 CornellLRev 505, 522–8Google Scholar; Wilson, RR, ‘International Law in New National Constitutions’ (1964) 58 AJIL 432CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For an earlier account see Pergler, C ‘Constitutional Recognition of International Law’ (1944) 30(2) VaLRev 30(2) 318Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁴ See Stein, E, ‘International Law in Internal Law: Toward Internationalization of Central-Eastern European Constitutions?’ (1994) 88 AJIL 427CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ginsburg, T, Chernykh, S and Elkins, Z, ‘Commitment and Diffusion: How and Why National Constitutions Incorporate International Law’ (2008) UIlLRev 201, 207–10Google Scholar; Chang, WC and Yeh, JR, ‘Internationalization of Constitutional Law’ in Rosenfeld, M and Sajó, A (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law (OUP 2012) 1168Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁵ Cassese, A, ‘Modern Constitutions and International Law’ (1985-III) 192 Recueil des Cours 331Google Scholar; Vereshchetin, VS, ‘New Constitutions and the Old Problem of the Relationship Between International Law and National Law’ (1996) 7 EJIL 1, 4–8Google Scholar; Buergenthal, T, ‘Modern Constitutions and Human Rights Treaties’ (1998) 36 ColumJTransnatlL 211Google Scholar; Hathaway, OA, ‘Treaties' End: The Past, Present, and Future of International Lawmaking in the United States’ (2008) 117 YaleLJ 1236, 1362–72Google Scholar; Peters (n 118) 171; Nollkaemper (n 131) 151.

¹⁷⁶ See Schwartz, H, ‘The Internationalization of Constitutional Law’ (2003) 10(2) Hum Rts Brief 10Google Scholar. Note that by these terms I do not refer to the ‘structural changes of the international legal systems’ or to ‘the transfer of constitutional functions from the national to the international level’. On such understanding see Cottier, T and Hertig, M, ‘The Prospects of 21st Century Constitutionalism’ (2003) 7 Max Planck UNYB 261, 269–75Google Scholar. On constitutionalism beyond the state see also Trachtman, JP and Dunoff, JL (eds), Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law, and Global Governance (CUP 2009)Google Scholar; Schwöbel, CEJ, Global Constitutionalism in International Legal Perspective (Martinus Nijhoff 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dobner and Loughlin (n 127).

¹⁷⁷ See Ginsburg, T, ‘Locking in Democracy: Constitutions, Commitment and International Law’ (2006) 38 NYUJIntlL 707Google Scholar; Ginsburg, Chernykh and Elkins (n 174).

¹⁷⁸ Henkin (n 80) 72–4; Peters (n 118) 172; Neuman (n 103) 1891.

¹⁷⁹ Vereshchetin (n 175) 13.

¹⁸⁰ See Peters (n 118) 187–93; Peters, A, ‘The Globalization of State Constitutions’ in Nijman, J, and Nollkaemper, A (eds), New Perspectives on the Divide Between National and International Law (OUP 2007) 259–66Google Scholar.

¹⁸¹ Constitutional Court of Lithuania, Case No 17/02-24/02-06/03–22/04 on the limitation of the rights of ownership in areas of particular value and in forest land, ruling of 14 March 2006, para 9.4 <www.lrkt.lt/dokumentai/2006/r060314.htm>.

¹⁸² Corte costitutizionale Judgment Nos 348/2007; 349/2007; 311/2009; 317/2009 <http://www.cortecostituzionale.it/ActionPagina_328.do>. See Biondi Dal Monte, F, Fontanelli, F, ‘Decisions No. 348 and 349/2007 of the Italian Constitutional Court: The Efficacy of the European Convention in the Italian Legal System’ (2008) 9 GermanLJ 889Google Scholar; Mirate, S, ‘The Role of the ECHR in the Italian Administrative Case Law: An Analysis after the Two Judgments of the Constitutional Court No. 348 and No. 349 of 2007’ (2009) 1 ItalianJPubL 260Google Scholar; Gentili, G, ‘A Comparison of European Systems of Direct Access to Constitutional Judges: Exploring Advantages for the Italian Constitutional Court’ (2012) 4(1) ItalianJPubL 159, 205–6Google Scholar.

¹⁸³ US Const art VI, cl 2; Sloss, D, ‘The Domestication of International Human Rights: Non-Self-Executing Declarations and Human Rights Treaties’ (1999) 24 YaleJIntlL 129, 131Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁴ See Geofroy v Riggs, 133 US 258, 267 (1890) (dictum): ‘It would not be contended that (the treaty power) extends so far as to authorize what the Constitution forbids.’ See also Vazquez, CM, ‘Treaties as Law of The Land: The Supremacy Clause and The Judicial Enforcement of Treaties’ (2008) 122 HarvLRev 599, 611Google Scholar. But see Socarras (n 111) 190 (the roots of American law acknowledged the supraconstitutional statues of international law) and Levin, RZ and Chen, P, ‘Rethinking the Constitution–Treaty Relationship’ (2012) 10(1) IntlJConsL 242, 243Google Scholar (the relationship between the Constitution and treaties is better characterized by ‘mutual adjustment’).

¹⁸⁵ On the relationship between EU law, ECHR law and national law in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania see M Bobek, D Kosai, ‘Report on the Czech Republic and Slovakia’ in Martinico and Pollicino (n 121) 117; I Raducu, ‘Report on Romania’, in Martinico and Pollicino (n 121) 369.

¹⁸⁶ P Cede, ‘Report on Austria and Germany’ in Martinico and Pollicino (n 121) 61.

¹⁸⁷ H Keller, A Stone Sweet, ‘Assessing the Impact of the ECHR on National Legal Systems’ in Keller and Stone Sweet (n 121) 684.

¹⁸⁸ Constitución de la Nación Argentina (1994), art 75, para 22. See Fierrot, HF and Ayllón, SL, ‘The Impact of Globalization on the Reform of the State and the Law in Latin America’ (1997) 19 HousJIntlL 785, 799Google Scholar. On the relationship between domestic constitutional law and international human rights law in Latin America see generally Mera, MEG, Inter-American Judicial Constitutionalism: On the Constitutional Rank of Human Rights Treaties in Latin America through National and Inter-American Adjudication (Inter-American Institute of Human Rights 2011)Google Scholar.

¹⁸⁹ The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, art 2(2) (n 7).

¹⁹⁰ Peters (n 118) 184. The Constitution expressly authorizes the government to enter into treaties inconsistent with the Constitution, subject to approval by two-thirds vote in both chambers of the parliament. Grondwet [Gw.] [Constitution] art 91(3) (Neth). See Alkema, EA, ‘Constitutional Law’ in Chorus, J, Gerver, PH and Hondius, E (eds), Introduction to Dutch Law (4th edn, Kluwer Law International 2006) 327–30Google Scholar; E Mak, ‘Report on the Netherlands and Luxembourg’ in Martinico and Pollicino (n 121) 301.

¹⁹¹ See Brems, E, ‘Belgium: The Vlaams Block Political Party Convicted Indirectly of Racism’ (2006) 4 IntlJConstL 702, 710Google Scholar (‘the priority of international treaties over the Belgian Constitution is not a matter of complete consensus among Belgian constitutional lawyers, and the Court of Cassation has never before so explicitly taken a position in this debate’); P Popelier, ‘Report on Belgium’ in Martinico and Pollicino (n 121) 90 (‘the Constitutional Court has never openly expressed the primacy of the constitution over international law’).

¹⁹² Belgian Cour de cassation, Dutch Section, 2nd Chamber, Vlaamse Concentratie, Decision of 9 November 2004, para 14.1, cited in Peters (n 118) 184 and Peters (n 180) 260.

¹⁹³ 49 SCRA 105, 126 (1973), cited in Bernas, JG, Constitutional Structure and Powers of Government: Notes and Cases: Part I (Rex Bookstore 2005) 1224Google Scholar. On the events leading to this case see Tan, SBJ, ‘The Philippines after the Lifting of Martial Law: A Lingering Authoritarianism’ (1980) 55 PhilippineLJ 418, 419Google Scholar; Roque, H, ‘The Philippines: Quezon's Wish Granted’ in Hill, C, Menzel, J (eds), Constitutionalism in Southeast Asia: Vol. 2 Reports on National Constitutions (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 2008) 217–19Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁴ The Constitution of the Russian Federation, 1993, Part 6, art 125. See generally Y Tikhomirov, ‘Russia’ in Shelton (n 98) 518, 523–4; Marochkin, SY ‘International Law in the Courts of the Russian Federation: Practice of Application’ (2007) 6(2) ChineseJIL 329Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁵ Supreme Court of Russian Federation (plenum), decision No 5 of 10 October 2003, ‘on application of the universally recognized principles and norms of the international law and the international treaties of the Russian Federation by courts of general jurisdiction’, para 1. An English translation is available at Burkov, A, The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Russia Law (ibidem-Verlag 2007) 124–34Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁶ Bundesbeschluss über die Volksinitiative ‘für eine vernünftige Asylpolitik und gegen die illegale. Einwanderung.’ 14 March 1996, BBI 1996 I 1355, cited and elaborated in de Wet, E, ‘The Prohibition of Torture as an International Norm of jus cogens and Its Implications for National and Customary Law’ (2004) 15(1) EJIL 97, 101–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Zimmermann (n 145) 258. On the peremptory status of the non–refoulement principle see Allain, J, ‘The Jus Cogens Nature of Non-Refoulement’ (2001) 13(4) IJRL 533CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹⁷ On the Swiss Rechtstaat principle see Fleiner, T, Misic, A and Töpperwien, N, Swiss Constitutional Law (Kluwer Law International 2005) 28–30Google Scholar.

¹⁹⁸ Botschaft über die Volksinitiatieven ‘für eine vernünftige Asylpolitik und gegen die illegale Einwanderung’. In BBI 1994 III 1489, 1495–1500, cited in de Wet (n 196).

¹⁹⁹ This opinion of the Swiss Federal Council was somewhat contrary to a prior decision of 1953, in which it held that no external limitations exist upon the constitutional process that can be deemed superior to the people's will (BBI 1954 I 72). In its later opinion, the Federal Council distinguished between treaty obligations, which state parties can legally terminate and were at issue in the 1953 initiative, and jus cogens norms, which were at issue in the 1994 initiative. See de Wet (n 196) 102–3.

²⁰⁰ See Biaggini (n 5) 316–17; Diggelmann, O, ‘Switzerland and the European Convention on Human Rights: Particularities in a Nutshell’ (2007) Jura 171, 173Google Scholar.

²⁰¹ See Moeckli, D, ‘Of Minarets and Foreign Criminals: Swiss Direct Democracy and Human rights’ (2011) 11(4) HRLRev 774, 781Google Scholar.

²⁰² Bericht des Bundesrates uber das Verhaltnis von Volkerrecht und Landesrecht, 5 March 2010, Bundesblatt 2010, 2263 at 2310, 2323, 2328–2331, cited in Moeckli ibid 785.

²⁰³ Neuman (n 103) 1875–6.

²⁰⁴ On ‘unamendable provisions’ as valid and binding see Roznai (n 11). See also Kelsen, H, ‘Derogation’ in Newman, RA (ed), Essays in Jurisprudence in Honor of Roscoe Pound (Bobbs-Merrill 1962) 343–4Google Scholar; Kelsen, H, General Theory of Norms (Clarendon Press 1991) 109–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kelsen, HGeneral Theory of Law and State (The Lawbook Exchange 2007) 259Google Scholar; Gözler (n 40) 52; Roznai and Yolcu (n 1) 190–5.

²⁰⁵ Oppenheim, L, ‘Introduction’, in Picciotto, CM, Relational Law to the Law of England and the United States (McBride, Nast & Co 1915) 10Google Scholar : ‘Neither can International Law per se create or invalidate Municipal Law, nor can Municipal Law per se create or invalidate International Law. International Law and Municipal Law are in fact two totally and essentially different bodies of law … Of course, it is possible for the Municipal Law of an individual State by custom or by statute to adopt rules of International Law as part of the law of the land, and then the respective rules of International Law become ipso facto rules of Municipal Law.’

²⁰⁶ Garlicki and Garlicka (n 69) 364.

²⁰⁷ Peters, A, ‘The Bananas Decision (2000) of the German Federal Constitutional Court: Towards Reconciliation with the European Court of Justice as Regards Fundamental Rights Protection in Europe’, in (2000) 43 GerYBIL 276, 282Google Scholar.

²⁰⁸ Compare McCormick, JP, ‘Book Review: Judging the Judges, Judging Ourselves’ (1999) 25 NYURevL&SocChange 109, 118Google Scholar: ‘As legal fora increasingly lose direct state-related implementation power as a result of globalization and regionalization, judges will need to consider methods that pursue civil and social justice when actual implementation is likely to be imperfect or ineffectual.’

²⁰⁹ Recall David Dyzenhaus's criticism of the South African judiciary who, according to him, should have confronted the government and resisted apartheid. While those judges saw themselves bound by domestic law, they could have invoked common law rights and freedoms to protect members of the society. Dyzenhaus, D, Judging the Judges, Judging Ourselves: Truth, Reconciliation and the Apartheid Legal Order (Hart Publishing 1998) 14–15Google Scholar.

²¹⁰ Peters, A and Preuss, U, ‘International Relations and International Law’ in Tushnet, M, Fleiner, T and Saunders, C (eds), Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law (Routledge 2012) 36–9Google Scholar; Nollkaemper (n 131) 199–200; Peters (n 118).

²¹¹ See for example with regard to East Asia: Lee, KG, ‘From Monadic Sovereignty to Civitas Maxima: A Critical Perspective on the (Lack of) Interfaces between International Human Rights Law and National Constitutions in East Asia’ (2010) 5(1) NationalTaiwanUniLRev 155Google Scholar.

²¹² See Rosenfeld, M, ‘Constitutional Adjudication in Europe and the United States: Paradoxes and Contrasts’ (2004) 2 IntlJConstL 633, 655Google Scholar; Bork, R, The Tempting of America (Free Press 1990) 66Google Scholar (arguing that recognizing supra-constitutional norms invites judicial activism).

²¹³ Vereshchetin (n 175) 14.

²¹⁴ But see Martinico (n 121) 424: ‘today, the issue of the ECHR's primacy and direct effect does not depend just on what is written in the constitutions, it is something that seems to go beyond the full control of national constitutions’.

²¹⁵ de Wet (n 196) 103.

²¹⁶ Slaughter, AM and White, WB, ‘The Future of International Law Is Domestic (or, The European Way of Law)’ (2006) 47(2) HarvIntlLJ 327, 350Google Scholar (for them, this slogan ‘refers not simply to domestic law but to domestic politics. More precisely, the future of international law lies in its ability to affect, influence, bolster, backstop, and even mandate specific actors in domestic politics’).

²¹⁷ Wright, Q, ‘International Law in Its Relation to Constitutional Law’ (1923) 17 AJIL 234, 239CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²¹⁸ ibid 244.

²¹⁹ Compare Claes, M, ‘The Europeanisation of National Constitutions in the Constitutionalisation of Europe: Some Observations against the Background of the Constitutional Experience of the EU-15’ (2007) 3 CYELP 1, 37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²²⁰ Torrijo (n 129) 491.

²²¹ Grimm (n 127) 16.

²²² Simpson, G, Law, War & Crime (Polity Press 2007) 46Google Scholar.

²²³ This may not be the case when one argues that the original constituent power is limited. Here, resorting to supra-constitutional theories might be unavoidable. See Keshavamurthy, CV, Amending Power Under The Indian Constitution: Basic Structure Limitations (Deep & Deep Publications 1982) 87Google Scholar, n 29: ‘Taken to logical limits it can even be argued that the human values protected by the International Covenants operate as limitations even on the ultimate Sovereignty in any community which would prefer to remain as a member of the community of civilized nations.’ See also Franck, TM and Thiruvengadam, AK, ‘Norms of International Law Relating to the Constitution-Making Process’ in Miller, LE (ed), Framing the State in Times of Transition: Case Studies in Constitution Making (United States Institute of Peace Press 2010) 3Google Scholar.

²²⁴ cf The German Constitutional Court Lisbon Case, BVerfG, 2 BvE 2/08, 30 June 2009, para 218 <http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/es20090630_2bve000208en.html>: ‘Through what is known as the eternity guarantee, the Basic Law … makes clear … that the Constitution of the Germans, in accordance with the international development which has taken place in particular since the existence of the United Nations, has a universal foundation which cannot be amended by positive law.’

²²⁵ de Wet (n 196) 104.

²²⁶ For example, with regard to the initiative to ban the construction of minarets, the Federal authorities did not find any violation of peremptory norms, claiming that the freedom to exercise one's religion and the prohibition on discrimination do not form part of jus cogens. Similarly, with regard to the initiative requiring the automatic expulsion of foreign nationals convicted of certain criminal offences specified by law, it was argued that it could be implemented in a way that respects the prohibition on refoulement. zur Volksinitiative, Botschaft ‘Gegen den Bau von Minaretten’ Bundesblatt 2008, 7603, 7609–12Google Scholar; zur Volksinitiative, Botschaft ‘fur die Ausschaffung krimineller Auslander (Ausschaffungsinitiative)’, Bundesblatt 2009, 5097, 5106–13Google Scholar, cited in Moeckli (n 201) 781–82.

²²⁷ Herdegen (n 35) 605.

²²⁸ Carter, WM, ‘Treaties as Law and the Rule of Law: The Judicial Power to Compel Domestic Treaty Implementation’ (2010) 69 MdLRev 344, 389Google Scholar.