The Sovereignty of the Constitution. A historical Debate in a European Perspective

This paper aims to focus on certain “sovereignty issues” that were at the heart of European liberal thought in the nineteenth century and, more specifically, during the Restoration (1814-1848). In particular, it will concentrate on the “Doctrinaires” and their political-constitutional thought, especially in France, but will consider also other European experiences. Neutralizing two “threats”, popular sovereignty (and its constituent power) as mere “sovereignty of numbers” and the “rule of force” and, on the other side, the archetypical “monarchical sovereignty”, they sought to identify a philosophical underpinning (the “sovereignty of reason”) and more concretely to elaborate a theory of the “sovereignty of constitution” based historically on the Charte constitutionnelle, especially after 1830, and considered to be a framework of national sovereignty. The “epicenter” of this debate was France, but it had a wider European relevance. Indeed, it contributed, in different ways, during the nineteenth century, to the forging of a doctrine of the Constitution based on the “new” sovereignty of the State.