Abstract
There are not one, but two stories to tell about the development of constitutional ideas in Europe: one for Eastern Europe and one for Western Europe. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West of the continent, particularly France, saw itself as the driving force behind progressive ideas on the state and the law, while the East seemed to be more on the back foot. Although the Polish Constitution was drafted a few months before the French Constitution of 1791, it was perceived as outdated, whereas the latter was received as a model of success. The state it provided a framework for was also confronted with the expansionist policies of its neighbors. Some states in the East, such as the Russian Empire, were not prepared to let the ideas of human rights and constitutionalism flourish, and even tended to transform them immediately into their opposites. These historical facts can be interpreted in various ways: either as the illustration of a two-speed Europe, or, following Samuel Huntington or Jenö Szücz, as the expression of different legal heritages that cannot be brought together in a common heritage.
