In the world of international constitutional law, the use of foreign judicial decisions in domestic jurisprudence has long created controversy and confusion for both lawmakers and legal scholars. This once seemed strictly an American problem because of America’s unique system of judicial review; however, with the tremendous growth in constitutional courts throughout the world, the debate has expanded greatly over the past few decades. While some countries decry the practice or merely avoid it, others embrace its usefulness and specifically authorize justices to examine foreign law. Perhaps the first point that must be reiterated on the use of foreign jurisprudence for domestic constitutional interpretation is that nothing in this article—or any other publication—implies that foreign jurisprudence should ever be considered in any way binding. While at this point of comparative scholarship, such a clarification would seem both trivial and obvious, it still bears mentioning. . .
