TY  - RPRT
N2  - A critical component of law is the ease by which experts and lay persons can understand it. If a law is unclear, it is unlikely to generate compliance and enforcement. Using data from a project conceived to understand the content of national constitutions, we assess the effect of contextual, textual, and interpreter characteristics on the interpretability of constitutional documents. We find that constitutions do vary in their degree of clarity. However, contextual barriers do not seem to matter: constitutions written in bygone eras, in different languages, or in far different cultural milieus are no less interpretable by readers than are those written in closer temporal and cultural proximity. On the other hand, several textual characteristics do have a sizable impact on interpretability, a result that emphasizes the important role that constitutional drafters play in the implementation of their product.
ID  - eprints46
M1  - working_paper
AV  - none
TI  - On the Interpretability of Law: Lessons from the Decoding of National Constitutions
UR  - http://www.concepts-methods.org/Files/WorkingPaper/PC_44_Melkinsburg.pdf
A1  - Melton, James
A1  - Elkins, Zachary
A1  - Ginsburg, Tom
PB  - Political Concepts, Committee on Concepts and Methods Working Paper Series
Y1  - 2010/11//
VL  - 44
ER  -