This article was originally published by Joseph Solis-Mullen at The Mises Institute under the title: On the Failure of Constitutionalism Through the Ages: Norms, Emergencies, and the Administrative State Classical liberals, as well as some libertarians, have long placed great faith in constitutions as instruments capable of restraining political power. Particularly following the Renaissance and Enlightenment, written constitutions began to be celebrated by limited government political theorists as rational devices designed to bind rulers, limit coercion, and protect liberty through clearly-enumerated rules. Yet a persistent strain of skepticism—articulated most sharply by thinkers such as Murray Rothbard and Ralph Raico—has questioned whether…