Band 15, Heft 3-4

It took the incisive pen of H.G. Wells to provide a simple understanding of the diffuse and arcane British constitution: Nobody planned the confounded constitution. It came about; … but you see it came about so happily in a way, it so suited the climate and temperament of our people and our island, it was on the whole so cosy, that our people settled down into it. You can't help settling down into it. The purpose of this paper is to briefly look at some aspects of the constitution that the British “settled down into” and to examine arguments calling for the incorporation of a written declaration of individual rights.

This is the third installment in a series of studies which began in 1983. The earlier essays surveyed computer-assisted legal research in Europe, the Commonwealth, and North America. The present study will concentrai on developments in the United States.