LEGAL SYSTEM OF ARGENTINA

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LEGAL SYSTEM OF ARGENTINA
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OVERVIEW
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BRIEF HISTORY

• Peron
• Dirty War
• Return to democracy
• 1990s
• Economic crisis
• Recovery

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ORGANIC CONSTITUTION

• 1949 Constitutional Convention
• 1994 Reforms

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THE CONSTITUTION

• National Constitution Constitución de la Nación
  Argentina
• Federal country with three levels of state
• Based on the republican doctrine of the division
  of powers into three different areas executive,
  legislative and judicial

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FEDERAL SYSTEM

• Argentina is a federation with a bicameral
  Parliament, known as the National Congress
• The National Congress is comprised of a lower
  house, called the Chamber of Deputies, and an
  upper house, called the Senate

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THE PRESIDENT

• The federal state is ruled by a presidential
  system
• President is the head of both the state and the
  federal government
• Elected by direct universal suffrage every four
  years
• Appoints his ministers and the Chief of Staff,
  and is involved in all administrative issues, in
  addition to being politically responsible for the
  government

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CONGRESS

• A Congress controls the Legislative Power
• It consists of a Senate and a House of
  Representatives (Cámara de Diputados)
• President has the right to veto the laws passed
  by Congress unless it insists with a special
  majority

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LEGISLATIVE POWER

• The legislative power is complemented by two
  special bodies, or offices, with specific powers
• Auditor General
• Ombudsman (the peoples defendant), in charge of
  protecting and defending human rights and other
  rights recognized by the Constitution

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HIERARCHY OF LAWS

• National Constitution
• Preamble
• Section 1
• Section 2
• International agreements
• Federal Laws

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PROVINCES

• Each province has its own legislation, including
  provincial constitutions, laws and resolutions
• Local legislation cannot violate any of the
  individual rights protected by the National
  Constitution

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Overview of Argentine Legal System

• Mixture of US and Western European legal systems
• Civil Law Country
• Inquisitorial
• Detailed Codes
• There are 23 provinces and the Federal Capital
  (Buenos Aires).  The 23 provinces are autonomous,
  but not as autonomous as the states in the United
  States system of government. 
• Three main political parties in Argentina
• Two court systems, the Federal Court System and
  the Provincial Court System
• A Civil Code governs Civil Law, and a Criminal
  Code governs Criminal Law. 
• No jury trials in Argentina. 
• The judge plays an important and active role in
  the Argentine Legal System.  Human Rights
  violations were a problem for Argentina in the
  past, but the current government generally has a
  good track record on human rights

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COURT SYSTEM

• The National Judicial Power
• The judicial powers of the provinces
• The territory of each province is the
  jurisdiction of each provincial judicial power
• The National Judicial Power has jurisdiction over
  the entire territory of the Argentine Republic
  and the Federal Capital
• From the territorial point of view, the
  Provincial and the Federal Justice overlap in
  each province

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POLITICAL PARTIES

• There are 22 political parties in the National
  Congress
• Peronists or Justicialist Party (Partido
  Justicialista-PJ)
• Radical Civic Union (Union Civica Radical-UCR),
• Front for a Country in Solidarity (Frente de Pais
  Solidario)

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CIVIL CODE

• Enacted in 1871 by Argentina's Congress
• Encompasses all matters concerning
• Argreements
• Obligations
• Property
• Domestic law
• Successions   

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CIVIL COURTS

• Decides civil issues
• A judge decides all civil cases
• Judges at the trial level court usually
  specialize in special areas- family law, property
  law, business law, juvenile law, or bankruptcy
  law

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APPEALS

• The losing party may make an appeal to the
  second-level court, the Civil Court of Appeal
  (Camaras Civiles de Apelacion)
• The Civil Court of Appeal consists of three
  judges who must come to a conclusion by a
  majority (at least two)
• The moving party must submit a written brief in
  support of their appeal

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SUPREME COURT

• A party may appeal to the Supreme Court or
  Provincial Supreme Court/Superior Tribunal of
  Justice in limited circumstances
• This appeal procedure is called revocation
  (casacion)

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CRIMINAL LAW

• Criminal matters are decided in Criminal Courts
  (Camaras del Crimen)
• Two Stages
• In criminal courts, judges at the trial level
  court are called criminal or instruction judges
• Criminal Courts have a Court Prosecutor (Fiscal
  de Camara)
• The prosecutor plays an important role in the
  provincial criminal court system.  In some
  provinces, the judge investigates the case, and
  in other provinces, the prosecutor investigates
  the case along with the judge

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HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

• The Constitution expressly provides for
  fundamental human rights such as equality before
  the law, personal liberty, freedom of expression,
  peaceful assembly, and the right to private
  property
• Argentina is a member of the American Convention
  on Human Rights and accepts the jurisdiction of
  the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. 
  Argentina has ratified the Rome Treaty and is a
  member of the International Criminal Court. 
  Argentina has not accepted compulsory
  International Court of Justice jurisdiction

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JURISPRUDENCE

• In Argentina, codification of law has not allowed
  jurisprudence to reach the same significance as
  it has in the US
• Precedents carefully prepared for decades are
  sometimes made useless in a day by a Congress law
  that states the opposite, and that legal
  provision, as long as judges do not believe that
  it breaches the National Constitution, is
  considered mandatory

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FORM OF GOVERNMENT

• Democratic government in the
• Representative,
• Republican, and
• Federal form
• The nation adopts this form of government as
  established by the National Constitution, passed
  on 1853
• Modification in 1860

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TREATY MAKING POWERS

• NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
• PROVINCES

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DO INTERNATIONAL TREATIES HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE
LAW?

• In 2001, the CEDAW Optional Protocol was sent to
  the Senate to be ratified by law
• On April 30 of 2002 the Government sent a message
  to the Senate requesting not to ratify it
• Despite the change in 1999 to the Penal Code
  Crimes against Sexual Integrity legal
  discriminatory rules still exist

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NOT REALLY

• Limited access to health care in general (public
  or private) due to the economic crisis and to the
  devaluation of the national currency
• The increasing unemployment that has been
  occurring since 1994, meant the loss of the
  -health care coverage, and at the same time it
  worsened the services available
• Social security institutions, like the Institute
  of Medical Care (IOMA), discriminate against
  women beneficiaries by not allowing them to
  include their husbands or partners
• Although males and females beneficiaries
  contribute equally, men enjoy that benefit
  exclusively and this social security institution
  does not allow incorporation of homosexual male
  and female couples

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PROBLEMS WITH ENFORCEMENT

• There is a general lack of awareness about the
  legal framework for protecting disability rights
• Most laws lack penalties for non-compliance, and
  some of them are not enforced

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NEW POLITICS

•  The Presidents wife, Christina Fernandez, is an
  ultra feminist (shes running for politics)
• President Nestor Kirchner (elected in 2003),
  while professing belief in the Catholic faith,
  has often had a troubled relationship with the
  hierarchy of the Church. Kirchner belongs to the
  center-left of Peronism and has placed emphasis
  on certain progressive views that do not go well
  with some conservative Catholics

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Supreme Court Recent Decisions

• Ricardo Alberto Tufano Case

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INTER-AMERICAN COURT

• Argentina recognizes the competency of the Court
• Recent disability law example

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REVIEW OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

• Constitution of Argentina
• Civil Code of Argentina
• Argentine sources of law
• Law
• Case Law
• Custom
• General Principles of Law
• Analogy
• Equity
• Moral

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NUMEROUS SOURCES

• WEBSITE INFORMATION http//student.maxwell.syr.ed
  u/catoomey/argentinian-disability-law/

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DIFFICULTIES

• Most information is in Spanish ONLY