impact than between 100,000 and 105,000 words, even though the absolute difference in both cases is 5,000 words. In order to assess what factors influence the length of a constitution, we control for the variables referenced in the literature review. We know from previous studies that more recent constitutions tend to be longer and cover more subjects. Moreover, common law countries tend to have longer constitutions, a legacy of British legislation. Finally, federal constitutions might be longer because they must describe the powers and responsibilities of several different levels of government. We also include the variable from the CCP. Table 1 indicates that long constitutions have more detailed detail provisions; all the other variables lose significance, except for the age of the constitution, which does lose much of its explanatory power. Figure 1 shows the location of the different OECD countries for the length and detail variables. The variable could be detail considered either an indicator of innocuous garrulity, or of substantive restrictions imposed by the constitution. There is no way to tell directly. However, as the article unfolds, indirect evidence will point out that is mainly correlated with “detail” restrictions. Table 1: Constitutional Length Regressed on Constitutional restrictions (“detail”) Figure 1: Length as a function of (restrictions) of a constitution “detail” What is the relation of length and constitutional rigidity? There is no agreed upon quantitative measure of the latter. As Elkins et al. point out, devising a cross-national measure is particularly difficult because amendment procedures are not always directly
impact than between 100,000 and 105,000 words, even though the absolute difference in both cases is 5,000 words. In order to assess what factors influence the length of a constitution, we control for the variables referenced in the literature review. We know from previous studies that more recent constitutions tend to be longer and cover more subjects. Moreover, common law countries tend to have longer constitutions, a legacy of British legislation. Finally, federal constitutions might be longer because they must describe the powers and responsibilities of several different levels of government. We also include the variable detail from the CCP. Table 1 indicates that long constitutions have more detailed provisions; all the other variables lose significance, except for the age of the constitution, which does lose much of its explanatory power. Figure 1 shows the location of the different OECD countries for the length and detail variables. The detail variable could be considered either an indicator of innocuous garrulity, or of substantive restrictions imposed by the constitution. There is no way to tell directly. However, as the article unfolds, indirect evidence will point out that “detail” is mainly correlated with restrictions. Table 1: Constitutional Length Regressed on Constitutional restrictions (“detail”) Figure 1: Length as a function of “detail” (restrictions) of a constitution What is the relation of length and constitutional rigidity? There is no agreed upon quantitative measure of the latter. As Elkins et al. point out, devising a cross-national measure is particularly difficult because amendment procedures are not always directly