... also act to prevent the institutions of state for abusing their power or exceeding their legitimate authority.2 Even prior to any further examination, it seems clear that at least in theory the constitutional court has an important role to play in a democratic country. However, the importance of a constitutional court can only be truly examined in light of its full powers and scope, and when looked at in situ with other state institutions. As this varies from state to state, the courts of Italy and France will be used as examples. In Italy, provisions for a constitutional court were drawn into the new post-war constitution in 1948. There was support for the idea that there had been too few constitutional safeguards in the pre-war constitution that had allowed fascists to come to power legally. Placed in the context of the rest of the constitution, it was part of a wider dispersal ...

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