Abstract

In presenting the essays collected in this special issue, the author discusses the features of Canada's constitutional order that make it a particularly significant case for analysis of the dynamics driving evolution of the constitutional state: in particular, the fact that Canada has recently given itself a new Constitution enriched with a charter of rights, and the distinctive nature of its federalism, where the initial supremacy of the central state has given way to the evolution of centre-periphery relations to a large extent developed among non-formalised institutions; the asymmetrical nature of a federalism whose components have different social and cultural characteristics which seek to achieve differences of legal treatment.