The Max Planck Handbooks in European Public Law series describes and analyses the public law of the European legal space, an area that encompasses not only the law of the European Union but also the European Convention on Human Rights and, importantly, the domestic public laws of European states. Recognizing that the ongoing vertical and horizontal processes of European integration make legal comparison the task of our time for both scholars and practitioners, it aims to foster the development of a specifically European legal pluralism and to contribute to the legitimacy and efficiency of European public law. The first volume of the series begins this enterprise with an appraisal of the evolution of the state and its administration, with cross-cutting contributions and also specific country reports. While the former include, among others, treatises on historical antecedents of the concept of European public law, the development of the administrative state as such, the relationship between constitutional and administrative law, and legal conceptions of statehood, the latter focus on states and legal orders as diverse as, e.g., Spain and Hungary or Great Britain and Greece. With this, the book provides access to the systematic foundations, pivotal historic moments, and legal thought of states bound together not only by a common history but also by deep and entrenched normative ties; for the quality of the ius publicum europaeum can be no better than the common understanding European scholars and practitioners have of the law of other states. An understanding thus improved will enable them to operate with the shared skills, knowledge, and values that can bring to fruition the different processes of European integration.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this very useful analysis of constitutional law in Venezuela provides essential information on the country’s sources of constitutional law, its form of government, and its administrative structure. Lawyers who handle transnational matters will appreciate the clarifications of particular terminology and its application. Throughout the book, the treatment emphasizes the specific points at which constitutional law affects the interpretation of legal rules and procedure. Thorough coverage by a local expert fully describes the political system, the historical background, the role of treaties, legislation, jurisprudence, and administrative regulations. The discussion of the form and structure of government outlines its legal status, the jurisdiction and workings of the central state organs, the subdivisions of the state, its decentralized authorities, and concepts of citizenship. Special issues include the legal position of aliens, foreign relations, taxing and spending powers, emergency laws, the power of the military, and the constitutional relationship between church and state. Details are presented in such a way that readers who are unfamiliar with specific terms and concepts in varying contexts will fully grasp their meaning and significance. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable time-saving tool for both practising and academic jurists. Lawyers representing parties with interests in Venezuela will welcome this guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative constitutional law.