Equality's Guardians
How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination Guarantees
Author: Niels Petersen
Equality is a contested concept, giving courts significant power to shape equality guarantees. Equality's Guardians explores how different jurisdictions emphasize various dimensions of equality, despite similar normative texts. It also examines the institutional and cultural reasons behind the diverse conceptions of equality adopted by courts.
5th November 2025
Hardcover
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Summary
Equality is a contested concept, giving courts significant power to shape equality guarantees. Equality's Guardians explores how different jurisdictions emphasize various dimensions of equality, despite similar normative texts. It also examines the institutional and cultural reasons behind the diverse conceptions of equality adopted by courts.
Description
Equality's Guardians offers an unparalleled comparative analysis of constitutional equality case law from apex courts across 18 jurisdictions worldwide, including key international human rights treaties. This groundbreaking book aims to map various courts' diverse equality case law, revealing a richer comparative picture than the commonly discussed non-discrimination model prevalent in common law jurisdictions. By identifying four distinct models of equality, the book classifies each jurisdiction based on the level of deference courts grant to the legislature.The second aim of Equality's Guardians is to delve into the reasons behind courts' choices of specific equality models. Rather than providing a uniform answer, the analysis uncovers a range of cultural and institutional factors influencing these decisions. This nuanced approach highlights that the models of equality must be understood within the unique institutional and cultural contexts of each jurisdiction.Ultimately, Equality's Guardians: How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination Guarantees challenges the notion of a one-size-fits-all approach to equality. It emphasizes that the identified models are not to be normatively ranked but appreciated as products of their specific environments. This comprehensive study is essential for anyone interested in the complexities of constitutional equality and the varied ways it is interpreted and applied around the world. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
About the Author
Niels Petersen is Professor of Public Law, International Law, and EU Law at the University of Münster. He holds an MA in Quantitative Methods from Columbia University and a PhD in Law from Goethe University in Frankfurt. His research focuses on comparative constitutional law, constitutional rights and international human rights, constitutional theory, and the use of social science methods in legal research. He is the author of the book Proportionality and Judicial Activism (2017) and was the Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator Grant project “Correcting Inequality through Law” from 2019 to 2025.
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5th November 2025
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