Call for Chapters: Cambridge Handbook on Unwritten Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press)

An open call has been announced for a limited number of chapters in the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook on Unwritten Constitutionalism. The call was published on 18 September 2026 by the Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles (UCNP) project at Durham Law School, Durham University, a comparative research project on unwritten constitutionalism focused on Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The editors are Vanessa MacDonnell, Silvia Suteu, Se-shauna Wheatle and Thomas Wischmeyer.

Unwritten rules, norms and principles are a feature of constitutional orders around the world, including those governed by highly codified constitutions. They include foundational principles such as the rule of law and the separation of powers, constitutional conventions regulating the conduct of political actors, and a wider range of informal norms and practices that shape constitutional government.

The Handbook will examine unwritten constitutionalism as a field of study from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. It will also explore the intersection of unwrittenness and perceptions of the value of the written word, and the role of unwrittenness in Indigenous legal traditions and transformative constitutionalism.

• Indigenous constitutionalisms
• The relationship between written and oral legal traditions
• Writing as a (de)colonial practice
• Methodological problems in describing traditions as “written” or “unwritten”
• The role of writing the unwritten in the preservation of language

The editors particularly welcome contributions with a focus on jurisdictions in Central and South America.

Proposals are welcome from scholars in various disciplines, including law, political science, history, sociology, anthropology and Indigenous studies. The editors particularly welcome contributions from scholars in the Global South. Only a small number of chapters will be filled through this open call.

• Send a chapter proposal of up to 250 words.
• Email it to unwritten-constitutionalism.rewi@hu-berlin.de.
• Deadline: 30 October 2026.

Decisions on accepted proposals will be communicated in November 2026. Workshops for the Handbook will take place in April and September 2027, bringing together accepted contributors to present their chapters and receive feedback. Draft chapters will be due before the workshops. The call does not state the workshop venue or mode.

The call does not mention any submission or publication fee.