Constitutional Theory -- Schmitt's Collected Works (Volume 3)

Author: (German) Schmitt/Liu Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The book "Constitutional Theory" begins by stating: Confusing "constitution" with a set of legal provisions (statutes) is a muddled constitutional view—there must be a distinction between the "absolute meaning" and the "relative meaning" of the constitution. The former refers to the one-time political decision of the constitutional subject (monarch or people), decisively creating the specific form of existence of their political community. In this sense, the meaning of the constitution is equivalent to the actual existence of the state and its form of government (e.g., "democratic republic"). A set of specific regulations to regulate the order of life—what is called the "relative meaning" of the constitution—only arises from this political decision. Schmitt's distinction between the absolute and relative meanings of the constitution is also intended to remind German intellectuals to clarify in their own minds what a democratic republic truly means: the republican revolution was far from merely drafting a written constitution. It means that a political unity (nation-state) made a new political decision about its mode of existence in a specific political situation, or made a new decision about how to form a new political unity in a new political situation—subsequent constitutional drafting (formulating specific constitutional statutes) was merely the political action consciously chosen by this political unity. In other words, the "absolute meaning" of the "constitution" (specific constitutional statutes) is tantamount to.