The Aristotelian Founding Legislator and Constituent Power

Abstract The application of the concept of constituent power to Aristotle is undoubtedly at risk of anachronism. It nonetheless remains instructive, this chapter argues, to consider the application of constituent power to Aristotle’s political and legal thought. Two main arguments are offered for this contention. First, Aristotle’s reflections on the founding legislator and architectonic legislative ‘science’ anticipate in illuminating ways the later development of the distinction between constituent and constituted power. Second, a contrast between Aristotelian foundational law-making and the modern idea of constituent power provides a critical lens on the conceptual and normative presuppositions of the latter.