nam 22 uu 4500 10.17176/20201219-172747-0 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 201219s2020||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.17176/20201219-172747-0 doi eng 342 23 Perez Crespo, Carlos Author aut Carl Schmitt, the Arbitrary Character of Constituent Power, and the Tradition of European Public Law Perez Crespo, Carlos Verfassungsblog 2020-12-19 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier In this comment, I engage with Chapter 3 of Lucia Rubinelli's book, which is an essential contribution to the study of constituent power in the Weimar Republic and the reception of this idea in the work of the controversial jurist Carl Schmitt (1888-1985). My thoughts are organized into two sections. In the first, I summarize Rubinelli's reading of Schmitt’s understanding of constituent power in Weimar. My main criticism concerns Rubinelli’s reading of the arbitrary character of constituent power in Schmitt, which in my view insufficiently reflects Schmitt's distinction between dictatorship and despotism. In the second part, I turn to the historical transition of constituent power that Rubinelli detects between the 19th-century French lawyers and the Weimar Republic. I point out that there is a missing link in Rubinelli's history of Schmitt's constituent power: the dialogue between the languages of German state theory (Staatslehre) and French public law (Droit Public) in the early 20th century. funded by the government CC BY-SA 4.0 Carl Schmitt Constituent Power Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Lucia Rubinelli Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://staging.verfassungsblog.de/carl-schmitt-the-arbitrary-character-of-constituent-power-and-the-tradition-of-european-public-law/ raw object