Constitutional Specificity, Unwritten Understandings and Constitutional Agreement

This article explores the determinants of "constitutional specificity." It examines how and why constitutional documents differ widely in length, detail and scope. Treating constitutional texts as coordination devices, this article predicts that demand for specificity of constitutional text will increase as a function of audience heterogeneity, political uncertainty and other factors. It shows that constitutions are getting longer and more detailed over time, and that constitutions in common law countries are longer than those in civil law countries, though not necessarily any clearer.