The Rise and Demise of Constitutional Duties in Israel

Abstract

In many constitutions, constitutional duties appear alongside constitutional rights. However, the history of constitutional duties, unlike the history of constitutional rights, is a neglected topic. This article is a case study of the history of constitutional duties in Israel. The article documents the appearance of duties in Israeli constitutional texts and debates in the 1950s and shows that the interest in duties was connected to the view that a major role of constitutions was to serve as educational, rather than legal, texts. The article then analyzes the decline of the duties discourse in Israel, pointing to the 1960s as the watershed decade in which duties disappeared. Finally, the article discusses a number of possible factors that led to the waning of the notion of constitutional duties, focusing specifically on the juridification of Israeli society. Fluctuations in interest in constitutional duties, the article concludes, are connected to changing understandings of the nature of constitutions, and, more broadly, to shifts in the relative importance of law and lawyers in society.