Constitution of Argentina


The Constitution of the Argentine Nation is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a constitutional assembly which gathered in Santa Fe; the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution. It was then reformed in 1860, 1866, 1898, 1949, 1957, and the current version is the reformed text of 1994. It's the seventh oldest national constitution currently in effect being ratified on May 1, 1853.
The Argentine Constitution consists of a preamble and two normative parts:
  • Preamble
  • First part: Declarations, Rights and Guarantees
  • Second part: Authorities of the Nation.
The following international human rights instruments —treaties and declarations— also have constitutional status by virtue of article 75 paragraph 22:
The first attempt to divide political power in Argentina was during the government created after the May Revolution : the Primera Junta could not create new taxes without the Cabildo's authorization.
Many revolutionary leaders, led by Mariano Moreno, wanted to declare independence immediately and create a constitution in order to build an independent state. In October 1811, the Junta Grande, which succeeded the Primera Junta, enacted the Regulation for the Division of Power, but it was not accepted by the executive power. Nevertheless, the freedom of press and the Decree on Individual Security were accepted by November.
In 1813, the General Constitutional Assembly was intended to declare a constitution but it could only declare the freedom for slaves' sons.
In 1819 and 1826 were declared two constitutions that eventually failed because of the disagreement between Federalists and Unitarians.
Many other constitutional pacts existed between 1820 and 1853. The most important of them are: the Treaty of Pilar, the Treaty of the Cuadrilátero, the Federal Pact, the Palermo Protocol, and the Treaty of San Nicolás.
The Federal Pact urged all the provinces to call a General Federal Congress, however this would have limited Juan Manuel de Rosas's power who was the most powerful province governor, so the Congress was never called.
When Rosas was defeated, in 1852, the Treaty of San Nicolás finally called the Constitutional Congress that, in Santa Fe, on May 1, 1853, swore to make effective the federal Constitution. Consequently, the Province of Buenos Aires left the Argentine Confederation until 1859.

Reforms to the 1853 Constitution

The first constitutional amendment to the original 1853 text occurred in 1860 after Buenos Aires rejoined the Argentine Confederation. It consisted of changes to many of the original articles. One of the major changes was the renaming of the state: according to the reform, the country would be officially named República Argentina and, for legal purposes, Nación Argentina, replacing the older "Argentine Confederation" in all articles of the constitution. Another important inclusion was the constitutional recognition of Buenos Aires' exclusive rights guaranteed by the Treaty of San Nicolás.
The next reform occurred in 1866 and established that exportation and importation taxes would be destined to the National Treasury indefinitely, no longer until 1866 as the 1860 reform had established.
In 1898, another minor constitutional amendment was approved. It allowed a more flexible ratio for proportional apportionment in the Chamber of Deputies and set the number of ministries to eight.
During Juan Domingo Perón's government, the Argentine Constitution of 1949 was successfully passed, which constituted a major revision. Its goal was to modernize and adapt the text to the twentieth century's concepts of democracy, for example, adding a list of social rights which included better working conditions for the working class, the right to good education, etc. This also was included in the principles stated in the preamble. It also permitted the indefinite reelection of the president.
During the military regime known as the Revolución Libertadora that had deposed Perón's government in 1955, in 1957 and before the elections that was to be held in 1958, a Constitutional Convention was elected to reform the constitution. This reform does not include 1949's, implicitly annulling it so the text was based on the 1898 one. The only changes done were to include a summary of Perón's social articles known as article 14 bis and to establish the necessity to have a Labour and Social Security Code.
In 1972, a "Constitutional Amendment" carried out by the military government led by General Alejandro A. Lanusse reformed the 1957 text. This had to last until 1977 but its application could be extended until 1981 if no Constitutional Convention in 1976 decided either to accept it or reject it definitively. This amendment was not fully applied by the democratic government of Perón in his third term nor by his wife Isabel Perón acting as president after his death. Some changes were related to the size of Senate and one-term reelection of president and vice-president. It also reduced presidential, senatorial and deputies' terms all to four years.
The last version of the Argentine Constitution was carried out by Carlos Saúl Menem in 1994. It included many of the modifications from the 1972 "amendment" as the growth of the Senate size, one-term consecutive presidential reelection and reduction of its term to four years. It also made Buenos Aires City an autonomous entity with its own authorities. Other changes were done to ensure a softer presidentialist regime, the inclusion of a new chapter into the Bill of Rights related to politics, health and environment, and also the adoption of a much faster legislative procedure for creating laws. In addition, the requirement that the President or Vice President of the Republic belong to the Roman Catholic faith was also abolished.

Divisions

The Argentine Constitution has four major division types; Parts, Titles, Divisions and Chapters, though these need not be present all the time. For example, the First Part is divided into Chapters but not into Titles nor Sections. The scheme of the Constitution is the following:
  • Preamble
  • First Part
  • *First Chapter Declarations, rights and guarantees
  • *Second Chapter New rights and guarantees
  • Second Part Authorities of the Nation
  • *First Title Federal Government
  • **First Division Of the Legislative Power
  • ***First Chapter Of the Chamber of Deputies
  • ***Second Chapter Of the Senate
  • ***Third Chapter Common dispositions to both Chambers
  • ***Fourth Chapter Attributions of the Congress
  • ***Fifth Chapter Of the formation of Laws
  • ***Sixth Chapter Of the General Audit of the Nation
  • ***Seventh Chapter Of the Ombudsman
  • **Second Division Of the Executive Power
  • ***First Chapter Of its nature and duration
  • ***Second Chapter Of the way and time of the election of the President and
  • ***Third Chapter Attributions of the Executive Power
  • ***Fourth Chapter Of the ministers
  • **Third Division Of the Judicial Power
  • ***First Chapter Of its nature and duration
  • ***Second Chapter Attributions of the Judicial Power
  • **Fourth Section Of the Public Ministry
  • *Second Title Provincial Governments
  • Transitory Provisions

    Preamble

The Preamble of the Argentine Constitution states or implies, in short terms, a number of starting points for the conception of the nation, such as a representative government. It acknowledges previous agreements to create a constitution. Finally, it lays the foundations for the policy of support of immigration, by asking "for the protection of God, source of all reason and justice" for all people who desire to inhabit Argentina.

Declarations, rights and guarantees

The Constitution establishes a Bill of Rights and Guarantees for all individuals, Argentine or foreign; the inviolability of the right of life, liberty, equality, security and property. The second chapter, added in 1994, deals with public ethics, political rights, environmental protection and consumer rights.
Civil rights are recognized to all inhabitants with no distinction of nationality. This is a consequence of the traditional interest of Argentina in the affluence of foreigners and foreign investment. Labor rights are also acknowledged. These include limited labor day, just salary, right of organization, social security benefits, etc.
The constitution declares that no one can be deprived of property, except in case of judicial sentence based on previously enacted legislation, or through expropriation for reasons of public utility, duly qualified by law and previously indemnified. The person, its judicial defense, its domicile and correspondence are inviolable.
What the law does not forbid is permitted. Individuals have complete freedom to do or refuse to do anything in private, except if that interferes with public order or morality, or causes damage to third parties.
The 1994 reform introduces several new legal figures: amparo judicial, habeas corpus and habeas data. Injunctions are destined to protect citizens from actual or imminent damage; habeas corpus is to protect the citizen's physical freedom; and habeas data is a person's right to access information about himself or herself, and request its confidentiality, a change or a suppression.
The Argentine Constitution's rights are divided in four groups: Civil, patrimonial, politic and social.