Abstract

LARA-BORGES, Oswald; GASTAGNOLA, Andrea  and  PEREZ-LINAN, Aníbal. Constitutional Design and Judicial Stability in Latin America, 1900-2009. Polít. gob [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.1, pp.3-40. ISSN 1665-2037.

This paper analyzes constitutional design as it pertains to the powers, composition, selection procedures, and duration of the mandate of supreme courts and constitutional tribunals in 17 Latin American countries between 1900 and 2009. The analysis is based on an original database that contains the text of all constitutional articles in the central organs of the judiciary. The paper relies on this information to demonstrate to what degree the job stability of magistrates can be explained in terms of the institutional conditions that regulate the judicial system. Our analysis emphasizes that the survival of magistrates is determined by the stability of the constitutional framework, rather than any specific legal content.

Keywords : judiciary; Latin America; rule of law; supreme court; constitutional tribunal.

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