Description
Book SynopsisCarl Schmitt ranks among the original and controversial political thinkers of the twentieth century. This book contains translations of Schmitt's 1958 commentary on the work, explanatory notes, and an appendix including articles of the Weimar constitution.
Trade Review“An English translation of Carl Schmitt’s
Legalität und Legitimität is long overdue.
Legality and Legitimacy concludes the critique of legal positivism and the rationality of statute law he began in
The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy and
Political Theology and does so in the historical context of Weimar’s final crisis. It was an important argument at the time and is just as significant seventy-odd years later.”—Ellen Kennedy, author of
Constitutional Failure: Carl Schmitt in Weimar“Carl Schmitt is an unorthodox classic. One of the intellectual grave-diggers of the Weimar Republic, he wrote this brilliant book in the middle of the political crisis, opting for presidential dictatorship. Excellent in its analysis,
Legality and Legitimacy is unwise regarding political consequences and without a realistic political vision for the future. This first English-language translation should stimulate European-American dialogue about the vitality of democratic institutions in view of the challenges of antidemocratic and antiliberal temptations.”—Michael Stolleis, University of Frankfurt
Table of ContentsTranslator’s Preface / Jeffrey Seitzer ix
Identifying or Exploiting the Paradoxes of Constitutional Democracy? An Introduction to Carl Schmitt’s
Legality and Legitimacy JOHN P. McCORMICK xiii
Legality and Legitimacy Introduction: The Legislative State System of Legality Compared to Other State Types (Jurisdiction, Governmnetal, and Administrative States) / John P. McCormick 3
I: The System of the Legality of the Parliaamentary Legislative State
1. The Legislative State and the Concept of Law 17
2. Legality and the Equal Chance for Achieving Political Power 27
II: The Three Extraordinary Lawgivers of the Weimar Constitution
3. The Extraordinary Lawgiver
Ratione Materiae: The Second Principal Part of the Weimar Constitution and a Second Constitution 39
4. The Extraordinary Lawgiver
Ratione Supremitatis: Actual Meaning - Plebiscitary Legitimacy instead of Lgislative State Legality 59
5. The Extraordinary Lawgiver
Ratione Necessitatis: Actual Meaning - The Administrative State Measure Displaces the Parliamentary Legislative State Statute 67
Conclusion 85
Afterword (1958) 95
Appendix: Selected Articles of the Weimar Constitution 103
Notes 109
Works Cited by Carl Schmitt in
Legality and Legitimacy 161
Index 165
