Constitutional Semiotics

Like other cultural phenomena, legal constitutions communicate a social meaning through a complex web of signs and symbols. In his timely book, Martin Belov explores this web and offers a synthesising study of 'shadow constitutionalisms' in their textual, symbolic, imaginary and visual forms challenging a simplistic identification of constitutionalism and legality with modern rationalism. The intentional meaning of legal arguments and theoretical conceptualisations is contrasted to the spontaneous undercurrents of societal and cultural constitutionalisations which are subsequently analysed by a meta-theoretical approach of constitutional semiotics. * Jiri Priban, Professor of Law, Cardiff University, UK * For the most part, most debates in contemporary constitutional theory still presuppose the validity of the dichotomies between ancient and modern, absolute and relative, or formal and material constitutions. In moving beyond the textual paradigm of modern constitutionalism which such dichotomies take for granted, Belov's path-breaking monograph draws much-needed attention to the sources of constitutional meaning which inhere in visual representations, material artefacts, and symbolically charged performances. As a pioneering contribution to the nascent field of constitutional semantics, it will also be of direct interest to anyone interested in the role of imagination in the practice of constitutional theory. * Zoran Oklopcic, Associate Professor, Carleton University, Canada *