You're cordially invited to the launch event for Uriel Procaccia’s new book:
The Myth of Super-Constitutionalism

Join us on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at Elath Hall.

• 17:00 – Reception with light refreshments
• 17:30 – Panel discussion featuring Yoram Shachar, Lior Barshack, and Alon Harel

Abstract:

Most jurisdictions have adopted some kind of a supreme legal norm, commonly referred to in modern times as a "constitution". In times gone by, a given jurisdiction's supreme legal order assumed different names, such as "natural law" or some religious command. All "regular" laws that contravene a given country's "constitution are commonly assumed to be illicit, and devoid of enforceable sanctions. The myth of constitutionalism is grounded in the hope that all kinds of human strife, such as war or minority persecution, should disappear, or at least be mitigated, in a world ruled by "constitutional" principles. This Book is dedicated to the exploration of this hope. The Article begins in the exploration of this aspiration in antiquity, and moves on to a detailed analysis of its history in proto-modern times, especially during the bloody contest between Catholic and Protestant cultures in the Seventeenth Century. The Article concludes with the realization that human suffering is not likely to be alleviated by the existence or adoption of "super-norms" that trump all offending practices. The methodology of the book is multi-disciplinary, and is mainly informed by theological, political and even artistic considerations.