The Concept of the Constitution in the Jurisprudence of Michael Oakeshott (original) (raw)

Michael Oakeshott, Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics (1950-1968), wrote and taught extensively on history, politics, philosophy, and law. Yet one of the central concepts in state theory, the constitution, goes almost unmentioned in his work, leading one to question whether, for him, such a concept even exists. This essay explores that question, arguing that such a concept does indeed exist. For Oakeshott, the constitution is learned and professed rather than written down and applied, in the manner of a vernacular language. This essay proceeds in six sections; section one examines the foundations of his thought, the Latin concepts of lex and jus, which stand for the written laws and ‘rightness’ of these laws. Section two explores how these concepts interact, and the relationship between politics and the law in the constitution. Section three expands on Tom Poole’s understanding of societas and universitas, the two ‘poles’ between which Oakeshott’s moral...

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