The current debate measuring the trade-offs between democracy and judicial review is unable to analyse the influence of courts in post-conflict states. However, a court with authority over constitutional review is commonplace in new constitutions, including those that have been drafted (or revised) as part of a political settlement. This article suggests that judicial institutions are as important as political institutions in sustaining a political settlement. As this article sets out, the parties to a peace process are required to make numerous compromises to negotiate new (or revised) institutional arrangements. Several cases are considered which illustrate how domestic constitutional courts were asked to mediate between tensions inside the political settlement. In all of the examples, the courts interpreted peace to be the most important constitutional value, or the primary purpose of the constitution. The judiciary played a role in maintaining the constitutional link to the elite pacts of the peace agreement, while acknowledging that the link should not preserve elite pacts permanently or without limit. The article argues, first, that these cases constitute evidence of an emergent global ‘peace jurisprudence’ based on purposive interpretation and a principle of proportionality that protects the foundations of the political settlement, and, second, questions the extent to which international courts are willing or able to adopt this jurisprudence.