Abstract

LEMPERIERE, Annick. Hispano-American Liberalism in the Mirror of Law. Rev. hist. derecho [online]. 2019, n.57, pp.117-156. ISSN 1853-1784.

This article is intended to examine the intricate process by which, the principles of political liberalism that prevailed in Hispanic-America since the revolution of the early 19th Century and the legal order inherited from the Ancient Regime, linked together. It examines the discrepancies between the traditional legal pluralism and State-centred legalism. Based on a new critical legal history, that emphasizes the cultural dimension of law, the paper successively examines the lot of individual rights and their guarantees, and of the new public authorities and administration, confronted with the legal-catholic culture of Hispano-American liberalism. Concepts such as jurisdiction and jurisdictional power are brought face to face with the constitutional principle of separation of powers. The paper concludes with the examination of the problems that the still alive traditional legal culture posed to the process of civil codification in the second half of the 19th Century.

Keywords : Liberalism; Legal culture; Constitution; Codification.