We explain what constitutional law is and why it is important. Origin, branches and examples of constitutional law.
What is constitutional law?
Constitutional Law or Political Law is a branch of Public Law dedicated to the study of the fundamental precepts (principles, concepts and laws) that determine the existence and functioning of a national State, normally established in the content of a National Constitution or Magna Carta.
Constitutional Law is also interested in what refers to the possible forms of State and also of Government, and especially in the regulation of public powers the links that these establish with citizenship and the fundamental rights that the legal framework of a State grants to individuals.
In conclusion, its primary objective is the maintenance of the rule of law and the fundamental laws of human beings. For this, generally proposes the division and autonomy of the Public Powers which fulfill functions of limitation and reciprocal surveillance, as well as the national sovereignty of the national States, which give their respective constitutional texts the last word in legal matters, and not to the interests of other more powerful nations.
Since the National Constitution of a country contains the legal norms that regulate public life, constitutional law normally aspires to compliance with what is established in this document. For this It has different judicial bodies in charge of the interpretation and application of constitutional laws, such as certain chambers of the Supreme Courts of Justice (called Constitutional Chambers).
See also: Organic law
Origin and history of constitutional law
The existence of Constitutional Law as an autonomous legal discipline could not exist, as is evident, before modern constitutions appeared, as common legal agreements to govern the life of a nation State. Therefore, Its birth generally coincides with that of the British Constitution of the 18th century widely studied by Baron de Montesquieu, one of the most important writers and jurists of the French Enlightenment.
That does not mean that there were no historical antecedents. In classical antiquity there were the fundamental laws of Ancient Greece, studied by philosophers of the stature of Aristotle and Plato, who distinguished them from other laws in their treatises. Likewise, in times of the Roman Empire, the Roman Constitution in the year 824 between King Lothair I of Italy, co-emperor along with his father Louis the Pious since 817, and Pope Eugene II, stabilizing the power struggle between the Empire and the Papacy.
Importance of constitutional law
Constitutional Law is extremely important, since sets a limit for governments restricting the powers available to political power and forcing it to adapt to the legal regulations written in the Magna Carta. No transitional power, no matter how majority, should be able to contravene the Constitution itself, and in that Constitutional Law plays a key role.
Therefore, this branch of law guarantees the rights of the people defending their interests from the will of government power, establishing the requirements and control mechanisms essential to be able to modify any content of the Magna Carta.
Branches of constitutional law
According to its study procedures, Constitutional Law can be classified into four types or branches:
- Classic Constitutional Law It focuses on the theoretical debate of the Magna Carta, using the positive method.
- Comparative Constitutional Law Make a comparison of the different possible constitutional texts and their modes of application, highlighting differences, similarities and contrasts.
- General Constitutional Law It is concerned with the ideology and concepts of legal thought around the Constitution, that is, its abstract matter.
- National Constitutional Law It deals with the historical perspective: specific legal cases from the constitutional history of a nation or all nations.
Examples of constitutional law
Any national Constitution is a clear example of the interests of Constitutional Law. So are the debates of the Constitutional Chambers of the Supreme Courts of Justice which determine whether an action, a decision or a measure taken by any public power respects or perhaps violates the provisions of the Magna Carta.
In fact, when any law or set of laws explicit in the Constitution are not clear or lend themselves to the need for some interpretation, the Constitutional Law bodies are in charge of doing so.
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