Constitutional Preambles and Everyday Politics

This presentation will use the scholarship regarding constitutional preambles, especially Professor Frosini’s work, to explore preambles in ordinary statutes. Why and when do preambles appear in legislation? To what extent are insights about constitutional preambles applicable to statutory preambles? Can statutory preamble support important public law and constitutional principles, particularly principles that need buttressing in an age of illiberal democracies and “democratic decay”? In addressing these and related questions, the primary case study will be the Canadian federal experience.