James Madison was a lawyer, statesman, philosopher, patriot and believer in the United States of America. Madison is considered to be the founding father of the American Constitution. Notably, James Madison also served as the fourth president of the United States of America. He reigned in the years 1809 to 1817. Considering his influential role and contribution in the drafting and promotion of the U.S. Constitution, Madison’s influence on the legal theory is quite strong. Moreover, his contributions to the field of constitutionalism have helped reveal the relationship between the higher and human law. Reading his biographies and eulogies across the world, it is evident that Madison saw the strong relationship between divine revelation and human law.
Understandably, jurisprudence or legal theory, as commonly known, means the theoretical study of law. Legal theory implies the principles followed by a litigant. The theorists concerned with jurisprudence normally aim at explaining the nature of law in the general way so that lawyers who practice litigation can have a deeper understanding of legal reasoning, systems, institutions and judicial processes. Madison has heavily influenced this field especially with his notes on the limits of executive power.
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In the years 1787 and 1788, Madison published a paper with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, which was titled Federalist Papers . This publication was a commentary on the principles as well as processes of the proposed U.S. Constitution ( Jaenicke, 2017) . The insights that Madison gives in this commentary have always shaped the thought processes of scholars who develop the legal theory. Madison raised concepts in this commentary, which have informed the positions held by lawyers and principles by which Constitutions across the world are written.
It is worth noting that Madison has not just influenced the legal theory through his written papers and publications alone, but also a great deal of his impact on the field of jurisprudence has been from the oral contributions he made as a member in the House of Representatives. In the House of Representatives, Madison clearly articulated the legal principles that informed the framework of the U.S. Constitution. He also defended the various Amendments he brought on the floor of the house using his well-thought out and plausible principles. Specifically, Madison introduced a number of constitutional amendments that would later create the basis for the Bill of Rights in the following many years.
It must be averred in this paper that Madison’s deep-seated beliefs and philosophy regarding the laws applicable to governance have continually shaped and influenced legal theory. According to Madison, the great danger to popular government was factions. Contextually, he used the term factions to imply a number of citizens who are held together in unity and bound by the common passion or interest in the communal aspirations ( Morrison, 2018) . However, such factions never have significance and relevance in a free and democratic society since the majority people get their wins through popular vote. The trick of it is that if the majority contain a faction then the fabric of freedom is highly threatened. Basically, factions arise from self-interest and prejudice that influences the views and opinions of individuals. To cure this negative likelihood, Madison proposed the principle of regional as well as interests’ representation.
The most direct influence of Madison on the legal theory was the proposal for the introduction of executive power checks and balances. Madison thought that the accumulation of absolute power to the executive arm of government amounted to tyranny. Moreover, he feared that even the representatives of people and interests would at one backslide hence could not be given blind trust. It meant that there was need for set rules and policies comparable to the divine revelation or the higher law. It is the way Madison and his contemporaries started to draft the U.S. Constitution. This set of laws was meant to serve as a supreme law over all other policies, regulations and policies. Therefore, Madison appeared to have seen the relationship between the higher law and the human law.
Higher law is natural. It provides that there is a supreme law under which every man and woman falls. The natural law principle states that authority is granted to human beings by God hence every person has to be subservient to Him. It is also the same natural law that states all human beings are equal before the throne of God. Madison’s understanding of this divine revelation is what made him propose inclusion of executive power checks and balances within the U.S. Constitution. Today, every arm of government has some meaningful checks, controls and balances. Furthermore, every government institution is under a watchdog that is meant to ensure ill-motivated factions do infiltrate the system and hurt citizens.
The Constitution of the United States separates government into three arms, which include the judiciary, legislature and executive. The three arms have separate powers. In reality, though, the powers of the three arms of government are partially blended to make sure that each branch guards against the possible usurpation of its jurisdiction by the others.
James Madison is the father of government law. His contributions to the development of the U.S. Constitution have greatly shaped the legal theory. The influence of Madison on legal theory is so evident because he conceptualized every proposal he made through publications. The provisions that he suggested be included in the Constitution were premised on clearly articulated and explicated philosophies and beliefs. For instance, he mentioned the concept of factions within a nation. Factions, which he explained have ill-motives, selfish interests and negative attitudes in relation to other citizens.
References
Jaenicke, D. W. (2017). Madison v. Madison: The Party Essays v. The Federalist Papers. In James Madison (pp. 459-490). Routledge.
Morrison, J. H. (2018). James Madison, Justice Scalia, and Constitutional Interpretation. Perspectives on Political Science , 1-4.
