Paradox of Self-Amendment by Peter Suber Preface to the Printed Version ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Preface to the Online Edition ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Part One The Paradox of Self-Amendment....................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Section 1 Introduction: Logical Paradoxes in Law............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Section 2 Preliminaries: Amendment Clauses ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Section 3: The Dilemma .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Section 4: The Denial of Self-Application ........................................................................................................................................................................ 21 Section 5: Self-Application .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 Section 6: The Inference and Acceptance Models of Legal Change ............................................................................................................................... 29 Section 7: Hart's Theory of Acceptance .......................................................................................................................................................................... 35 Section 8: Omnipotence and Immutability ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Section 9: Entrenchment, Self-Entrenchment, and Disentrenchment of the Amendment Clause Itself ........................................................................ 59 Section 10: Attempts to Dissolve the Paradox: Time ...................................................................................................................................................... 74 Section 11: Attempts to Dissolve the Paradox: Self-Embracing Omnipotence and Specific Authorization .................................................................... 82 Part II Variations on the Theme ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 86 Section 12: Introduction to Part Two ............................................................................................................................................................................. 88 Section 13: The See-Saw Method ................................................................................................................................................................................... 97 Section 14: Amendment by Sunset Clause ................................................................................................................................................................... 100 Section 15: Amendment by Interpretation ................................................................................................................................................................... 105 Section 16: Amendment by Implication ....................................................................................................................................................................... 112 Section 17: Amendment by Treaty ............................................................................................................................................................................... 119 Section 18: Amendment by "Inalienable Right to Alter or Abolish Government" ........................................................................................................ 124 Section 19: Amendment by Desuetude ........................................................................................................................................................................ 128 Section 20: Other Selected Paradoxes and Reflexivities in Law.................................................................................................................................... 132 Section 21: Conclusions and Explorations .................................................................................................................................................................... 149 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 171 Appendix 1: Attempts to Amend the Federal Amendment Clause............................................................................................................................... 172 Appendix 2: Self-Amendment of State Amendment Clauses ....................................................................................................................................... 178 Appendix 3: Nomic: A Game of Self-Amendment......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 195 ii