The Invisible Constitution in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In the ‘Invisible Constitution’, Laurence Tribe invites us to reflect on the idea of the ‘invisible’ Constitution as ‘the ocean of ideas propositions, recovered memories and imagined experience’ in which the text of the United States Constitution floats or operates. The idea is a rich and captivating one which has commanded the attention of readers worldwide. But what do we mean when we refer to constitutional ‘invisibility’? Invisibility, as Larry Solum notes in his chapter, is an evocative concept; yet it is also an ambiguous one.