Europe is home to some of the world’s most incomprehensible national constitutions.

Why are some countries’ constitutions easy to understand, while others are extremely difficult to interpret? James Melton outlines results from a cross-national study of the interpretability of constitutions. He notes that European constitutions are more difficult to interpret, on average, than constitutions from any other region of the world. While the negative consequences of low interpretability can be mitigated by other factors, making constitutions easier to understand should be a priority for future constitutional drafters.