Do private actors have constitutional duties? While traditionally only government actors are responsible for upholding constitutional rights, courts and constitution-makers increasingly do assign constitutional duties to private actors as well. Therefore, a landlord may have constitutional duties to their tenants, and a sports club may even have duties to its fans.
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This book argues that this phenomenon of applying rights 'horizontally' can be understood through the lens of republican political theory. Themes echoing such concepts as the common good and civic duty from republican thought recur in discourses surrounding horizontal application. Bambrick traces republican themes in debates from the United States, India, Germany, South Africa, and the European Union. While these contexts have vastly different histories and aspirations, constitutional actors in each place have considered the horizontal application of rights and, in doing so, have made republican arguments.
Christina Bambrick is the Filip Family Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in constitutional theory, with interests in comparative constitutionalism, American constitutionalism, and the history of political thought. Bambrick's book, Constitutionalizing the Private Sphere: A Comparative Inquiry, was published with Cambridge in 2025. It examines the horizontal application of rights to non-state actors in comparative constitutionalism, specifically in the United States, India, Germany, South Africa, and the European Union. Bambrick received her doctorate in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, and taught at Clemson University before coming to Notre Dame.