This talk assesses the relevance of the notion of the material constitution for democratic constitutional theory. It is argued that the concept of material constitution is a useful antidote for narrowly legalistic approaches to constitutional theory, but only if its complexities are properly understood. To achieve such understanding, theorists of the material constitution would do well to rely more strongly than they have thus far on Hans Kelsen’s approach to the material constitution of democracy.

About the Speaker:

Lars Vinx is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. He works in legal and political philosophy as well as in constitutional theory. Vinx currently investigates the question whether robust forms of constitutional control of legislative and executive power are justifiable by appeal to the notion of popular sovereignty. He also has a strong interest in the history of political and constitutional thought – with a focus on the constitutional theory of the Weimar Republic – and has published on the legal-theoretical and political-theoretical writings of Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt. Before coming to Cambridge, Vinx was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and then taught in the Department of Philosophy at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and holds an MA in history, philosophy and political science from the University of Heidelberg.

The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) point.