Constitutional Protection of Human Rights in Latin America
A Comparative Study of Amparo Proceedings

This book examines trends in the constitutional and legal regulations in all Latin American countries regarding the amparo proceedings.

Allan R. Brewer-Carías (Author)

9781107677937, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2014

450 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.66 kg

"...a valuable reference guide to lawyers, legal scholars, and social scientists interested in the judicial protection of rights in Latin American countries, whether they have previous knowledge of the civil law tradition or not ... Describing in quite good detail yet in an accessible manner the constitutional and legal characteristics of a rather complex judicial remedy across nineteen countries is an unquestionable accomplishment of this book..."
--Julio Rios-Figueroa, Division de Estudios Politicos, CIDE, The Law and Politics Book Review

Together with the expansive process of human rights constitutional declarations, in addition to the writ of habeas corpus and of habeas data, Latin American constitutions created a specific judicial remedy for the protection of constitutional rights, known as the suit, action, recourse, or writ of amparo. After spreading throughout Latin America, it was incorporated in the American Convention of Human Rights. It is similar to the 'injunctions' and the other equitable remedies of the United States legal system. This book examines, with a comparative constitutional law approach, trends in the constitutional and legal regulations in all Latin American countries regarding the amparo proceeding. It is an abridged version of the course of lectures the author gave at the Columbia Law School analyzing the regulations of the seventeen amparo statutes in force in Latin America, as well as the regulation on the amparo guarantee established in Article 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

Part I. The Constitutional and International Declarations of Human Rights and Its Judicial Guaranties: 1. The constitutional declarations of human rights in Latin America and its internationalization
2. Judicial guaranties of the declarations of human rights
Part II. The Amparo as a Latin American Constitutional and International Law Institution: 3. Judicial review and amparo proceeding in Latin America
4. The amparo action in countries that only apply the diffuse system of judicial review of legislation
5. The amparo action in countries that only apply the concentrated method of judicial review of legislation
6. The amparo as a constitutional right in countries with mixed systems of judicial review of legislation
7. The amparo as a constitutional guaranty in countries with mixed systems of judicial review of legislation
8. The American Convention on Human Rights and the internationalization of the amparo in Latin America
Part III. The Injured Party and the Constitutional Rights Protected by Means of the Amparo Proceedings: 9. The injured party: the plaintiff and the rules of standing
10. The justiciable constitutional rights by means of the amparo and habeas corpus actions
11. The question of the justiciability of social constitutional rights by means of the amparo action
Part IV. The Injury, the Injuring Party, and the Injuring Acts in the Amparo Proceeding: 12. The general conditions of the injury (harms and threats)
13. The reparable character of the harms and the restorative character of the amparo proceeding
14. The imminent character of the threats and the preventive character of the amparo proceeding
15. The injuring party: the defendant (public entities or private individuals)
16. The injuring actions and omissions of public authorities causing the harm or the threats
Part V. The Extraordinary Character of the Amparo Proceeding: 17. The question of the admissibility of the amparo and its relation with the ordinary judicial means
18. The main principles of the procedure in the amparo proceeding
19. The adjective configuration of the main phases of the amparo proceeding
20. The adjudication in the amparo proceeding and the preliminary protective measures
21. The definitive judicial adjudication in the amparo suit
22. The revision of the amparo decisions by the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR], Comparative law [LAM]