Los métodos de la reforma informal (The Methods of Informal Amendment)

Latin American Law Review, No. 3, 2019

19 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2019

See all articles by Richard Albert

Richard Albert

University of Texas at Austin - School of Law; University of Texas at Austin - Department of Government; Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo; Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas; Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Derecho; São Paulo Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas FGV DIREITO SP; Reichman University - Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliyah - Harry Radziner School of Law; University of Toronto - Faculty of Law; University of Ottawa - Faculty of Law; Airlangga University; Yale University; Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai

Date Written: March 1, 2019

Abstract

Spanish Abstract: Los académicos han mostrado que las constituciones escritas pueden ser reformadas de manera informal con efectos similares a los que tendría una reforma formal. Pese a ello, los diversos métodos de reforma informal aún no están bien organizados para poder analizarlos y compararlos. En este artículo examino las formas de la reforma informal, las clasifico como convencionales y no convencionales y propongo un tipo de reforma informal que aún no ha sido apreciado ni teorizado: el desuso constitucional. La desuetud constitucional ocurre cuando una regla constitucional escrita pierde sus cualidades vinculantes sobre los actuales actores políticos como resultado de su desuso consciente y constante y del repudio público por parte de los actores políticos que los precedieron. El desuso constitucional se asemeja –pero a la vez se diferencia– de las demás formas de reforma informal: es similar porque cambia los significados de las disposiciones constitucionales sin alterar el texto constitucional, pero es diferente en el entendido de que conduce a que la Constitución pierda validez política pese a que se mantiene intacto el texto. En este estudio utilizo el ejemplo de la Constitución de Canadá para ilustrar el fenómeno del desuso constitucional.

English Abstract: Scholars have shown that codified constitutions may be amended informally with similar effect as a formal amendment. Yet the many forms of informal amendment are not well organized for analysis and comparison. In this article, I examine the forms of informal amendment, I classify them as either conventional and unconventional forms of informal amendment, and I subsequently introduce an as-yet underappreciated and undertheorized form of informal amendment: constitutional desuetude. Constitutional desuetude occurs when a codified constitutional rule loses its binding quality upon political actors as a result of its conscious sustained disuse and public repudiation by preceding political actors. Constitutional desuetude both resembles and differs from other forms of informal amendment: it is similar because it changes constitutional meaning without altering the constitutional text yet it is different because it renders the constitutional text politically invalid though it remains codified and unchanged. I draw from the Constitution of Canada to illustrate the phenomenon of desuetude.

Note: Downloadable document is in Spanish.

Keywords: constitutional amendment, formal amendment, informal amendment, constitutional desuetude, Canada

JEL Classification: K39

Suggested Citation

Albert, Richard, Los métodos de la reforma informal (The Methods of Informal Amendment) (March 1, 2019). Latin American Law Review, No. 3, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3434581

Richard Albert (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - School of Law ( email )

727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin, TX 78705
United States
512.213.1113 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.utexas.edu/faculty/richard-albert

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Government ( email )

College of Liberal Arts
1 University Station A1800
Austin, TX 78712
United States

Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo ( email )

Facultad de Derecho
Av. Samborondón 5
Samborondón, 092301
Ecuador

HOME PAGE: http://uees.edu.ec/postgrado/postgrado-derecho

Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas ( email )

12 place du Pantheon
Paris cedex 06, 75231
France

Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Derecho

Calle 12 # 1-17 este
Calle 12 0 83
Bogota D.C, Cundinamarca 3456
Colombia

HOME PAGE: http://www.uexternado.edu.co/derecho

São Paulo Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas FGV DIREITO SP

R. Rocha, 233, Bela Vista
São Paulo, 01330-000
Brazil

HOME PAGE: http://direitosp.fgv.br

Reichman University - Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliyah - Harry Radziner School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 167
Herzliya, 46150
Israel

HOME PAGE: http://www.idc.ac.il/en/schools/law/pages/home.aspx

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law ( email )

78 and 84 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.utoronto.ca

University of Ottawa - Faculty of Law ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://commonlaw.uottawa.ca

Airlangga University

Dharmawangsa Dalam Selatan
Surabaya, East Java 60286
Indonesia

HOME PAGE: http://www.unair.ac.id

Yale University

493 College St
New Haven, CT CT 06520
United States

Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai ( email )

2nd Floor, CETTM MTNL Building, Technology Street
Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai 400076
Maharashtra
India

HOME PAGE: http://mnlumumbai.edu.in/vaf.php

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