R.I.P. Ran Hirschl

Mark Graber

Ran Hirschl was a pathbreaking scholar, an even better human being, and an even better friend.  Words cannot capture his impact on scholarship and on the lives of the numerous scholars he touched.  The excerpts from a letter on his behalf are a weak attempt to do justice to him and his legacy.  They remain in the present tense because through his works, example, and encouragement, Ran will always be with him.

Hirschl is the leading thinker on comparative constitutionalism in the world.   No political scientist in the public law field, no political scientists in the comparative government field, no law professor, and no member of any other discipline has come close to his achievements.  Each of Professor Hirschl’s books is acknowledged as path-breaking.  No one knows more about constitutional developments in different parts of the world.  No one has done more to inspire the contemporary renaissance in comparative constitutionalism.  No one has played a greater leadership role in this comparative constitutional revival.  You could divide Hirschl’s resume in half and probably thirds and each piece would have a powerful case for a lifetime achievement award in numerous disciplines and in numerous fields within those disciplines.

Hirschl has a stunning range of expertise, a range that dwarfs any other scholar that I know of in political science or law.  One finds in his publications a sophisticated understanding of political theory, all aspects of public law, and comparative politics.  He has clearly mastered the literature on democratic theory, on constitutional interpretation, on law and society, and on judicial politics.  He seems to have mastered the general literature on comparative constitutional law, and the specific constitutional politics of almost every country with constitutional politics.  His chapter on case studies in Comparative Matters is an extraordinary methodological piece, one I regular insist my students examine.   I have always been particularly impressed with Professor Hirschl’s capacity to both know the details of what almost every constitutional court in the world is doing and to organize those details into theoretically rich arguments.  Maybe somewhere in an obscure province in India, a constitutional development exists that Hirschl does not know about.  But neither I nor any of the numerous reviewers of his works have been able to identify this omission.  I am confident Vulcan of Star Trek fame is fiction, because Professor Hirschl has never discussed the Constitution of Vulcan.

This erudition extends far beyond law and political science.  Consider the first chapter of City, State: The Constitutionalism and the Megacity.  The chapter begins with an extensive discussion of what almost every social science field has said about cities for the past fifty years.  Hirschl seems to have a fluency in subjects ranging from sociology to architecture that would do experts in those field proud.  Perhaps I need to get out more, but I cannot think of a scholar in any field whose expertise ranges over so much political science, so much law and so much scholarship as Professor Hirschl.  The other books are similar.  Hirschl does not simply master law and political science.  He masters whatever disciplines are necessary to cast light on his subject matters.

Professor Hirschl’s forthcoming book, Constitutionalism 2050 points out that the traditional nation-state no longer serves to manage central problems.  The problems regimes face, from climate change to globalization to pandemics are now international.  Local national governance, he observes, weakens human capacity to respond to these problems.  Constitutionalism must go global for the human race to survive.  Putting aside jealously, I had two thoughts when he was presented.  Sandy Levinson accurately describes this work as the most important book on constitutionalism published in the twenty-first century.  As always the erudition is remarkable; the thesis strikingly original, and the importance speaks for itself.

Professor Hirschl is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, which is the equivalent of being a member of the American Academic for the Arts and Sciences in the United States (both are academic halls of fame).  He has held distinguished chairs at the University of Toronto, the University of Texas, and the Max Planck Institute in Germany, as well as holding distinguished visitor chairs at the National University of Singapore, New York University and Harvard Law School.  He has won national and global awards for scholarship and delivered addresses, often named, at almost every major university in the world.  He is a former Co-President of the International Society of Public Law and one of the founders of that organization.  He has published many edited collections and nearly one-hundred essays, many of which have been republished and translated elsewhere.  The evidence clearly indicates, I should add, that none of his works seem to have been written by Christopher Marlowe.

 Professor Hirschl excels at all facets of the academy.  He was an award-winning teacher at Toronto.  When I wrote his recommendation for the Canada Research Chair, the University of Toronto presented me with as strong a set of teaching evaluations, both for graduate students and undergraduates, as I recall seeing.  He has helped mentor the younger generation of comparativists.  You see Professor Hirschl’s name in manuscripts by junior scholars warmly thanking him for the time and energy he gave to reviewing junior manuscripts.  He has been a leader in comparative constitutionalism, not just as a scholar, but as a founder and leader of the International Society of Public Law.  Thanks in significant part to his efforts, ICON-S is probably the most important site in the world for comparative constitutionalism.  Finally, on a personal note he is a warm and trusted friend to many of us in the academy.

Professor Hirschl has a global reputation for excellence and as fine a global reputation for decency.  He is an outstanding teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend.

There will be a program at APSA honored his memory and achievements.  Others are in the works.  All we can do for the present is miss terribly this amazing scholar, human being and friend.