Constitutional Morality

Constitutional morality means adherence to the core principles of the constitutional democracy. The scope of constitutional morality is not limited only to following the constitutional provisions literally but it is so broad that it includes commitment to inclusive and democratic political process in which both individual and collective interests are satisfied.


In Grote’s rendition, ‘constitutional morality’ had a meaning different from two meanings commonly attributed to the phrase. In contemporary usage, constitutional morality has come to refer to the substantive content of a constitution. To be governed by a constitutional morality is, on this view, to be governed by the substantive moral entailment any constitution carries. For instance, the principle of non-discrimination is often taken to be an element of our modern constitutional morality. In this sense, constitutional morality is the morality of a constitution.


For Grote, the central elements of constitutional morality were freedom and self-restraint. Self-restraint was a precondition for maintaining freedom under properly constitutional government. The most political expression of a lack of self-restraint was revolution. Indeed constitutional morality was successful only in so far as it warded off revolution. 


The  constitutional morality may seem to emphasize the formal elements: self-restraint, respect for plurality, deference to processes, scepticism about authoritative claims to popular sovereignty, and the concern for an open culture of criticism that remains at the core of constitutional forms.