The constitution as a limit to political power

In the historical and political context of the Classical Liberal State, the concept of constitution is used to
denote a liberal-guarantor state system.

Article 16 of the "Declaration of the Rights of man and of the citizen": "a society in which the guarantee
of rights is not assured or the division of powers recognized, does not have a constitution"

The constitution as a set of fundamental norms

the concept of constitution is neutralized as the idea of "fundamental" may contain different ideologies,
different ends.

General content of a constitution

Declaration of principles, values, goals, in synthesis the ideological base of the system.

Creation of the organs of the State.

It enshrines Rights and freedoms, limitations and guarantees.

Control mechanisms for the exercise of political power.

Rules for constitutional reform.

Colombian Constitutional History

Constitution of Cundinamarca 1811- influenced by the C.P. from the United States. Beginning the
Independence, it tried to be Liberal and to establish federalism.

Fundamental Law of 1819 Angostura- Constitution of Cúcuta 1821- Gran Colombia.

In 1828 the congress meets to reform the Constitution but they fail due to a great division between
federalists and centralists.

Discretionary powers are granted to Bolívar and he issues a Decree as a “fundamental law” in August
1828 to 1830.

September conspiracy.
December 17, 1830 Bolívar dies. The Great Colombia.

Constitution of Rionegro 1863-Federal (United States of Colombia)

Constitution of 1886, Centralized, Conservatives-Regeneration or catastrophe.

War of the thousand days. 1899-1902.

Political Constitution of 1991

 Political and social facts:

 1953 Laureano Gómez overthrown by Rojas Pinilla. In 1957 he resigned.

 1958 Establishment of the National Front - distribution of power between conservatives and liberals -
Modernization of the State and put an end to "Violence". Union against communism. 1974.

 Emergence and development of insurgent movements and social movements.- Crisis of legitimacy and
governance.

 The difference between the political country and the national country became evident.

 The seventh ballot March 11, 1990 Virgilio Barco Declares a state of siege, the Constitutional Chamber
supports it, the national constituent assembly is formed.
 Reforms:

 Policy:

 Incompatibilities and disabilities, revocation.

 Citizen participation:

 Participatory democracy, citizen as protagonist and not only spectator-governors and mayors-popular
election.

 Pluralism:

 Respect for different political, moral and religious ideologies is enshrined.

 Administration of justice:

 The Superior Council of the Judiciary, the Constitutional Court, and the Prosecutor's Office are created
as an investigative and prosecutorial body.

 Local autonomy:

 Election of rulers and administrative autonomy.

 Transit to the Secular State:

 There is no predilection for a certain religious creed.

 Economy:

 Modernization, regulation of the securities and insurance sector.

The control of constitutionality is the expression of the principle of supremacy of the Constitution.
According to which the Political Charter is the fundamental norm and all the norms of the legal system
derive their validity from it.

The 100th day war

The Thousand Days War was a civil conflict in Colombia disputed between October 17, 1899 and
November 21, 1902, due to disagreements with previous policies and results of the Regeneration policy
supported by the National Party (a movement initially headed by Rafael Nuñez made up of conservatives
and moderate liberals), liberal and conservative politicians rejected measures that they considered
exaggerated by the government, in addition radicals from the Liberal party were looking for ways to
reach the government and grant changes, but nationalists who had the government in their hands had
of pro strategies that could restrict other politicians from other parties and drive them away from the
government.

The National Front

It was a political coalition established in 1958 between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party of
the Republic of Colombia. In response to the arrival of the military dictatorship in 1953, its consolidation
in power between 1954 and 1956, and after a decade of high rates of violence and radical political
confrontations, the representatives of both parties, Alberto Lleras Camargo (Liberal Party) and Laureano
Gómez Castro (Conservative Party), met to discuss the need for a pact between both parties to restore
the presence of bipartisanship in power.

On July 24, 1956, the leaders signed the Benidorm Pact, in Spanish lands, where it was established as a
system of government that, for the next 16 years, the presidential power would alternate, every four
years, between a liberal representative and a conservative one. The deal eats It began to be applied in
1958, after the fall of the dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, there was a political transition made by a
Military Junta, which was followed by the election of Alberto Lleras Camargo. The Front came to an end
on August 7, 1974, when the term of conservative politician Misael Pastrana Borrero ended.

On August 7, 1819, the Patriot Army defeated the Royalist Army of the conquerors and thus culminated
a process that had begun on July 20, 1810.

identity

unitary monarchies from a centralization Colombia 1986

President delegated centralism to presidents and governors

Federal decentralization each state has autonomy many centers of power

Each territorial identity appoints its own mayors

Political constitution

 Control of Constitutionality

 The control of constitutionality is the expression of the principle of supremacy of the Constitution.
According to which the Political Charter is the fundamental norm and all the norms of the legal system
derive their validity from it.

 "Constitutional control is a set of mechanisms designed to maintain the functioning of the State within
the guidelines indicated by the constituent will, and to prevent that exorbitant power from being placed
at the service of interests other than those of the community" (Charry Ureña )

On the Constitutional Control System of laws in Colombia, multiple criticisms fall that can be grouped
into two sectors: one sector of the national doctrine has described our system as "hypertrophically
diffuse and anarchic", while another sector believes that it is a system " complex and optimal ”.
The purpose of this work is to find out what concepts and theories the Colombian constituent has
embraced. If the adopted system guarantees the supremacy and integrity of the National Constitution. If
it turns out to be one of the most complete and complex that can occur in a modern state and if it
responds to the motivations and needs of the Colombian nation.

The exception of unconstitutionality or the control of constitutionality by way of exception, is currently

based on Article 4 of the Constitution, which establishes that “The Constitution is a norm of norms. In
any case of incompatibility between the Constitution and the law or other legal norm, the constitutional
provisions shall apply… ”. This norm makes our constitutionality control system qualified by the doctrine
as a mixed system since it combines a concentrated control at the head of the Constitutional Court and a
diffuse control of constitutionality where any authority can stop applying the law or another norm legal
because it is contrary to the Constitution. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that the
control by way of exception can be carried out by any judge, administrative authority and even
individuals who have to apply a legal norm in a specific case. This type of control is carried out at the
request of a party in a judicial process or ex officio by the authority or the individual at the time of
applying a legal norm that it finds contrary to the Constitution. In this case, it should be emphasized that
the legal or regulatory rule that has been exempted as unconstitutional does not disappear from the
legal system and continues to be valid since the effects of control by way of exception are interparty,
they only apply to the specific case and not they definitively annul the norm that is considered contrary
to the Constitution. Due to this fact, a norm that has been exempted by any judicial, administrative
authority or by an individual when a norm has to be applied, can be sued before the Constitutional
Court, which will exercise control of constitutionality and will decide definitively, in an abstract, general
way. and with erga omnes effects if the excepted rule is constitutional or not. Taking the foregoing into
account, the Court considers that the unconstitutionality exceptions made by judicial, administrative
authorities or individuals when they have to apply a law, do not eliminate the possibility that the
corporation has to carry out the constitutionality control of a certain precept.

 Concentrated model: Control is exercised by a Constitutional Court designated in the respective

Constitution to exercise said function, for which the use of the unconstitutionality action is necessary
and the result is the extinction of the demanded rule through the declaration of unconstitutionality , the
sentence therefore binds all people.

 Diffuse model: it operates in the United States, it is known as the "Judicial Review" model, it consists in
that any judge has the possibility of not applying a norm if it violates the Constitution; The result of the
control does not imply the expulsion of the revised norm from the legal system, but only its
inapplication to the specific case under trial.