Latin American Constitutions
The Constitution of Cádiz and its Legacy in Spanish America

Latin American Constitutions provides a comprehensive historical study of constitutionalism in Latin America from the independence period to the present.

M. C. Mirow (Author)

9781107025592, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 September 2015

332 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.61 kg

'Mirow's work is a major contribution to the historiography of Latin American constitutionalism - a little-explored field - and is indispensable material for any study that focuses its attention on the constitutional history of Spain and Latin America.' Gisela Ferrari, translated from Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History

Latin American Constitutions provides a comprehensive historical study of constitutionalism in Latin America from the independence period to the present, focusing on the Constitution of Cádiz, a foundational document in Latin American constitutionalism. Although drafted in Spain, it was applied in many regions of Latin America, and deputies from America formed a significant part of the drafting body. The politicization of constitutionalism reflected in Latin America's first moments proved to be a lasting legacy evident in the legal and constitutional world of the region today: many of Latin America's present challenges to establishing effective constitutionalism can be traced to the debates, ideas, structures, and assumptions of this text. This book explores the region's attempts to create effective constitutional texts and regimes in light of an established practice of linking constitutions to political goals and places important constitutional thinkers and regional constitutions, such as the Mexican Constitution of 1917, into their legal and historical context.

Introduction
1. Constitutional limbo in early nineteenth-century Latin America
2. The Constitution of Cádiz: America's other first constitution
3. The colonies speak to the metropole: transatlantic constitutionalism
4. The failures and successes of metropole constitutionalism
5. Latin American constitutionalism after independence
6. The legacy of the Constitution of Cádiz: twentieth-century Latin American constitutionalism
7. Constitutional promise: Latin American constitutionalism today
Conclusion
Appendix. Selected provisions of the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], History of the Americas [HBJK]