생태대를 향한 지구 입헌주의 서론 - 지구법학 관점에서 서구의 근대입헌주의 비판 -

It has been long since Thomas Berry first spoke of the transition to the Ecozoic Era. He argued that moving toward this era is the shared responsibility of everyone inhabiting the Earth and the only viable path toward a sustainable future. The Ecozoic Era represents a geological epoch in which humans exist within the planetary space of Earth as integral, participating members of the Earth community. Earth Jurisprudence aspires to a legal system and a theory of law that aligns with the Ecozoic Era on a geological scale and the broader space of the Earth. While Western modern constitutionalism has undeniably contributed to human history, it possesses shadows as profound as its light. I believe the answers we seek lie within the darkness obscured by those shadows. It is crucial to expose the temporal limits of “modernity” and the spatial constraints of the “West”, expanding our perspective toward the accumulation and change of time and moving beyond the non-West into the realm of nature. This article explores the possibility of a constitutional system befitting the “Great Work” of transitioning to the Ecozoic Era at the tail end of the Anthropocene, a period where the destruction of Earth's ecosystems has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. In this process, the study identifies principles that can serve as a lever or an interface for this transition. For the Rights of Nature - a cornerstone of Earth Jurisprudence - to be firmly established within the constitutional framework, we must first reconstruct the principle of sovereignty that currently constitutes political communities at the nation-state level. The traditional principle of sovereignty, lacking a planetary perspective, has precipitated the climate crisis and now necessitates a community-oriented approach that transcends national borders. Since the issue of carbon emissions, the primary driver of the climate crisis, stems from the disruption of the carbon cycle's balance that sustains Earth's ecosystems, the question of sovereignty at the Earth level lies in restoring the equilibrium between humans, the primary emitters, and non-human beings, who act as essential balancers. A shift in the theory of sovereignty within Earth Jurisprudence calls for an expansion of the categories of “nation” or “people” into that of “Earth members”. At the Earth level, the essence of sovereignty is not the supreme power of decision for domination and governance, but rather the responsibility to care for all beings on Earth, regardless of their nationality or species.