The constitutional justice-democracy debate in the establishment of Constitutions in 1931 and 1978

Authors

  • Ángel Garrorena Morales

Keywords:

Judicial review of legislation, democracy, Constitutional Court, judges, spanish constitutionalism

Abstract

The notorious tension that goes between judicial review of legislation and democracy, which means, between the necessary submission of legislation to judiciary control and the unquestionable democratic legitimization of the Parliament, law maker, is certainly a classic —perhaps, eternal— subject in the Constitutional Law History since the American constitutionalism imagine the aforesaid control (vid. Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, LXXVIII). Accordingly, this study analyzes that tense and intricate relation between judicial review and democracy in the context of the spanish constitutional experience with particular attention to this discussion during the process of elaboration and debate of the 1931 Spanish Constitution (certainly lively and enlightening) and of the 1978 Spanish Constitution in force.

Issue

Section

STUDIES