Devenish on Interpretation: Volume 2 – Constitutional Interpretation

Devenish on Interpretation: Constitutional Interpretation is the second volume of a two-volume tome dealing specifically with constitutional interpretation. This volume is devoted, inter alia, to the jurisprudential nature of judicial review, its genesis and its important consequences for interpretation in general. There are chapters devoted to the important principles of constitutional interpretation and the doctrines and concepts that influence such interpretation. There are separate chapters on the genesis of the concept of a Bill of Rights and the limitation of rights, as well as chapters on constitutional law procedures and the methodological techniques deployed in constitutional interpretation. Penultimately there is a chapter involving the discussion of significant cases that illustrate in a holistic and decompartmentalised manner how the courts address constitutional interpretation. This approach is referred to by the author as teleological/value-based evaluation, which involves deontic reasoning, as explained in chapter 11 of volume 1. The last chapter, entitled ‘Conclusion and Prognosis’, is a synopsis of the stance adopted by the author to constitutional interpretation in volume two with reference to seminal case law.