Constitutional Justice and the Perennial Task of ‘Constitutionalizing’ Law and Society through ‘Participatory Justice’

Abstract

This contribution argues that concepts of social justice in European and international private law must remain consistent with the principles of justice underlying European and international public law. The contribution begins with a brief explanation of the diversity of conceptions of constitutional justice and of their legal impact on ever more fields of European public and private law (1). After clarifying the constitutional terminology used in this contribution (2), Rawlsian principles of justice for national and international law (3) are distinguished from multilevel human rights as principles of justice (4), multilevel judicial protection of constitutional rights and rule of law by ‘courts of justice’ (5), and the diverse forms of democratic and private ‘participatory justice’ for transforming legal and social relationships (6). The constitutional dimensions of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty (as discussed in section 7) confirm that the ‘many concepts of social justice in European private law’ - the focus of this conference book - must be construed and developed with due regard to the diverse dimensions of ‘constitutional justice’ in European and international public law.