Giacomo Delledonne & Giuseppe Martinico 
The Canadian Contribution to a Comparative Law of Secession [PDF ebook] 
Legacies of the Quebec Secession Reference

This edited collection gathers together Canadian and non-Canadian scholars to reflect on and celebrate the 20th


anniversary of the Quebec Secession Reference, delivered by the Canadian Supreme Court in 1998. It opens with


two Canadian scholars exchanging thoughts on the legacy of the reference from a domestic perspective as one of


the most questioned decisions of the Canadian Supreme Court. To follow, non-Canadian scholars discuss the


impact of this reference abroad, reflecting upon its influence in European and non-European contexts (Spain,


Scotland, the EU after Brexit, Eastern European Countries, Ethiopia, and Asia). Two final chapters, one by a lawyer


and one by a political scientist, explore the democratic theory behind that reference.

Table of Content

1. Introduction: The Legacy of the Quebec Reference Re Secession.- 2. The Legacy of the Quebec Secession Reference Ruling in Canada and Internationally.- 3. The Law and Politics of Secession: From the Political Contingency of Secession to a “Right to Decide”? Can Lessons Be Learned from the Quebec Case?.- 4. The Reception in Spain of the Reference of the Supreme Court of Canada on the Secession of Quebec.- 5. The Reference Re Secession of Quebec, the Kosovo Advisory Opinion and the Questions They Leave Open. the Right to Decide, the Principle of Stability, and the Duty to Negotiate.- 6. Metaconstitutionalising Secession: The Reference and Scotland (In Europe).- 7. Constitutional Migrations in the Commonwealth:  the Quebec Secession Reference and Sri Lankan Constitutional Discourse.- the Reference and Ethiopian Constitutionalism.- 8. Secessionist Impulses and the Italian Legal System: The (Non)Influence of the Reference of Secession.- 9. Secession Reference and Its Intellectual Legacy: Skeptical Notes from the European Peripheries.- 10. A Political Theory Perspective on the Reference.- 11. “A Message of Hope”. a Legal Perspective on the Reference.- 12. Towards a Comparative Constitutional Law of Secession?

About the author

Giacomo Delledonne is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Comparative Constitutional Law at the Sant’Anna School of



Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.






Giuseppe Martinico is an Associate Professor of Comparative Public law at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced


Studies in Pisa, Italy. His research interests cover both comparative and European law, fields in which he has published


extensively, including two monographs in English.