"A great power of attorney" : understanding the fiduciary constitution /

"What kind of document is the United States Constitution and how does that characterization affect its meaning? Those questions are seemingly foundational for the entire enterprise of constitutional theory, but they are strangely under-examined. [The authors] propose that the Constitution, for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lawson, Gary, 1958-
Other Authors: Seidman, Guy
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2017
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040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d YDX  |d BDX  |d OCLCF  |d GUB  |d GZL  |d GUA  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCQ  |d KSU  |d CLU  |d UKMGB 
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049 |a VLAM 
050 0 0 |a KF4541  |b .L39 2017 
100 1 |a Lawson, Gary,  |d 1958- 
245 1 3 |a "A great power of attorney" :  |b understanding the fiduciary constitution /  |c Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman 
260 |a Lawrence, Kansas :  |b University Press of Kansas,  |c 2017 
300 |a vii, 217 pages ;  |c 24 cm 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-209) and index 
505 0 |a What the Constitution is, and why it matters -- The fiduciary background of the founding era -- Fiduciary government -- Categorizing the Constitution -- Incidental powers -- The duty of personal exercise of delegated power -- Duties of care and loyalty -- Impartiality 
520 |a "What kind of document is the United States Constitution and how does that characterization affect its meaning? Those questions are seemingly foundational for the entire enterprise of constitutional theory, but they are strangely under-examined. [The authors] propose that the Constitution, for purposes of interpretation, is a kind of fiduciary, or agency, instrument. The founding generation often spoke of the Constitution as a fiduciary document--or as a "great power of attorney," in the words of founding-era legal giant James Iredell. Viewed against the background of fiduciary legal and political theory, which would have been familiar to the founding generation from both its education and its experience, the Constitution is best read as granting limited powers to the national government, as an agent, to manage some portion of the affairs of "We the People" and its "posterity." What follows from this particular conception of the Constitution--and is of greater importance--is the question of whether, and how much and in what ways, the discretion of governmental agents in exercising those constitutionally granted powers is also limited by background norms of fiduciary obligation. Those norms, the authors remind us, include duties of loyalty, care, impartiality, and personal exercise. In the context of the Constitution, this has implications for everything from non-delegation to equal protection to so-called substantive due process, as well as for the scope of any implied powers claimed by the national government. In mapping out what these imperatives might mean--such as limited discretionary power, limited implied powers, a need to engage in fair dealing with all parties, and an obligation to serve at all times the interests of the Constitution's beneficiaries--[the authors] offer a clearer picture of the original design for a limited government."--Jacket 
650 0 |a Constitutional history  |z United States 
650 0 |a Due process of law  |z United States 
650 0 |a Implied powers (Constitutional law)  |z United States 
650 0 |a Reasonable care (Law)  |z United States 
700 1 |a Seidman, Guy 
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852 |a Law Library  |b Second Floor  |h KF4541 .L39 2017  |p 33940004426480