Constitutional Court of Colombia
Encyclopedia
The Constitutional Court of Colombia is the highest entity in the judicial branch
of government
in the Republic of Colombia in charge of safeguarding the integrity and supremacy of the Colombian Constitution of 1991
within the Constitutional law
s.However it is not the highest court of criminal appeal, civil appeal, administrative law disputes, and the administration of justice. The Supreme Court of Colombia
, the Council of State of Colombia
and the Superior Council of the Judiciary
are the highest courts of appeal for their respectives areas of law.
General Information
Although Colombia in the international concert, was pioneer of the civic control of constitutionality of the laws, that control was assigned in a beginning, in 1910, to the Supreme Court of Justice, maximum tribunal of the ordinary jurisdiction and later on, in 1945, it was divided to surrender to the contentious administrative jurisdiction, the control of constitutionality of the administrative acts.
Although of time one came impelling the creation of a constitutional tribunal behind, after an intent only failed in the reformation of 1968, in 1991, with the expedition of a Political new Letter, reality the establishment of the Constitutional Court was made, proposal in the Government's project and supported by several delegates that considered of supreme importance in the constitutional new outline, the operation of a specialized tribunal that took charge of the guard of the supremacy and integrity of the Constitution.
It is spoken then, of the establishment of a diffuse control, to the head of which the Constitutional Court and the Council of State are and extended to all the judges and tribunals of the Republic, to which the knowledge of the constitutional new actions was assigned of it guides, execution, popular and of group.
By virtue of the transitory article 22 of the Constitution, the first Constitutional Court was integrated for seven magistrates that were designated this way: for the president of the Republic, the doctors Alejandro Martínez Gentleman and Ciro Angarita Baron; for the Supreme Court of Justice, the doctor Jaime Sanín Greiffenstein; for the Council of State, the doctor Simón Rodríguez Rodríguez; for the Attorney general of the Nation, the doctor Eduardo Cifuentes MuDoz and for the Constitutional Court, they were designated of ternas presented by the President of the Republic, the doctors Fabio Moron Díaz and José Gregorio Hernández Galindo.
While it began this way works the Court integrated, the Supreme Court of Justice continued knowing of the matters of constitutionality from June 1_ 1991 up to February of 1992, 17 it dates in the one which, settled the Constitutional Court for the President of the Republic of then, doctor Cesar Gaviria. As president of the first Court, the doctor was chosen Simón Rodríguez Rodríguez. For that date, you had resided 47 of unconstitutionality demands, 1005 actions of it guides and three legislative ordinances sent by the President of the Republic, in development of the state of economic and social emergency that had been declared at the beginning of the aDo 1992.
This first Court worked up to February of 1993, 28 having uttered in this initial stage, a total of 133 sentences of constitutionality and 628 shortcomings of it guides that sat down the first bases of the development jurisprudencial of the new Letter. Of this first stage, shortcomings like those of the Concordat, the economic emergency and the first are remembered you guide that sat down the bases of the constitutional new system.
Later on, the Law 5 ^ of 1992, organic law by means of which the Regulation of the Congress was adopted, the number of magistrates increased from the Constitutional Court to nine whose election was made of ternas integrated by the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State, December of 1992, 1_ date in which was integrated the Court that should begin the period of eight aDos for which was chosen, March 1_ 1993.
Members of this Constitutional new Court were the doctors Jorge Arango Mejía, Antonio Barrier Carbonell, Eduardo Cifuentes MuDoz, Carlos Gaviria Díaz, José Gregorio Hernández Galindo, Hernando Herrera Vergara, Alejandro Martínez Gentleman, Fabio Moron Díaz and Vladimiro Orange tree Table.
Later on, they entered to the Corporation, in the doctors' substitution Jorge Arango Mejía and Hernando Herrera Vergara, the doctors Alfredo Beltrán Sierra and Alvaro Tafur Galvis.
Transitorily, they exercised the magistracy in quality of having taken charge, the doctors Julio Caesar Ortiz Gutiérrez and for the first time, a woman, the doctor Carmenza Isaza of Gómez. Later on, the doctors Martha Sáchica Méndez and Brown Cristina Schlessinger and the doctor Jairo Charry Rivas.
It is for all grateful one the advance in the development jurisprudencial that you/they have represented those more than eight thousand sentences dictated by the Constitutional Court that however, and like it is characteristic of a democratic and pluralistic State, it has also generated lit polemic in the circle of the jurists and the Government, institutional confrontations at level of the high corporations of justice, but that equally, has wakened up the trust and the hope of the citizens in their institutions and in the certainty that the Constitution is not a mere theoretical formulation.
The intents of constitutional reformation to modify to this Corporation and inclusive, to suppress it and to return to the control in charge of the Supreme Court of Justice, they have failed.
Address: Building of Palacio of Justice of Bogotá, D.C., Calle 12 No.7-65. Telephone is the (571) 3506200
for individual periods that can range from 2 to 8 years. Prospect candidates to become magistrates are proposed by the President of Colombia
, the Supreme Court of Colombia
and the Council of State of Colombia
(each can propose up to 3 candidates). Candidates must possess different specialties in Colombian Law.
Vicepresident: Gabriel Eduardo Mendoza Martelo
Judicial Branch of Colombia
Judicial Branch of Government of Colombia is the system of courts in Republic of Colombia which administer justice in the name of the state as a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The judicial branch encompasses judges, magistrates and other adjudicators who form the core of a judiciary, as...
of government
Government of Colombia
The government of Colombiais a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches.Its legislature has a congress,its judiciary has a supreme court, andits executive branch has a president....
in the Republic of Colombia in charge of safeguarding the integrity and supremacy of the Colombian Constitution of 1991
Colombian Constitution of 1991
The Political Constitution of Colombia, better known as the Constitution of 1991, is the current governing document of the Republic of Colombia. Promulgated on July 4 of 1991 , it replaced the Constitution of 1886...
within the Constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
s.However it is not the highest court of criminal appeal, civil appeal, administrative law disputes, and the administration of justice. The Supreme Court of Colombia
Supreme Court of Colombia
The Supreme Court of Colombia in Bogotá is the highest judicial body in civil and penal matters and issues of criminal and civil procedure in Colombia...
, the Council of State of Colombia
Council of State of Colombia
The Council of State of ColombiaState Council- It is conformed by twenty-seven magistrates that exercise during eight years.- It regulates the conflicts between the matters and the State.Superior Council of Judicature...
and the Superior Council of the Judiciary
Superior Council of the Judiciary
The Superior Council of The Judiciary of Colombia is the highest court of appeal on matters of the administration of justice. Organically the Superior Council of the Judiciary is divided in two rooms, diverse in their origin and functions, this way the jurisdictional one disciplinary that is in...
are the highest courts of appeal for their respectives areas of law.
Functions
Its main functions according to the Article 241 of the Colombian constitution are:- to decide on unconstitutionality claims raised by citizens.
- decide on national referendumReferendumA referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
s. - unconstitutional claims raised by citizens regarding government decrees with law enforcement.
- Decide on unconstitutional demands against Laws.
- Decide on unexcused absences of people required to inquests by any of the commissions in the Congress of ColombiaCongress of ColombiaThe Congress of the Republic of Colombia is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.The Congress of Colombia consists of the 102-seat Senate , and the 166-seat Chamber of Representatives ...
. - Decide on the constitutionality of legislative decrees that the government declares during "states of exception".
- Decide on the constitutionality of Law drafts which may have been objected by the government as unconstitutional and the drafts of statutory laws.
- Review judicial decisions related to the acción de tutela.
- Decide on executability of international treaties and the laws that approve them. By Decree 2067 of September 4, 1991 the state of Colombia adopts a procedural regime of the judgments and acts that must be presented to the Constitutional Court of Colombia.
General Information
Although Colombia in the international concert, was pioneer of the civic control of constitutionality of the laws, that control was assigned in a beginning, in 1910, to the Supreme Court of Justice, maximum tribunal of the ordinary jurisdiction and later on, in 1945, it was divided to surrender to the contentious administrative jurisdiction, the control of constitutionality of the administrative acts.
Although of time one came impelling the creation of a constitutional tribunal behind, after an intent only failed in the reformation of 1968, in 1991, with the expedition of a Political new Letter, reality the establishment of the Constitutional Court was made, proposal in the Government's project and supported by several delegates that considered of supreme importance in the constitutional new outline, the operation of a specialized tribunal that took charge of the guard of the supremacy and integrity of the Constitution.
It is spoken then, of the establishment of a diffuse control, to the head of which the Constitutional Court and the Council of State are and extended to all the judges and tribunals of the Republic, to which the knowledge of the constitutional new actions was assigned of it guides, execution, popular and of group.
By virtue of the transitory article 22 of the Constitution, the first Constitutional Court was integrated for seven magistrates that were designated this way: for the president of the Republic, the doctors Alejandro Martínez Gentleman and Ciro Angarita Baron; for the Supreme Court of Justice, the doctor Jaime Sanín Greiffenstein; for the Council of State, the doctor Simón Rodríguez Rodríguez; for the Attorney general of the Nation, the doctor Eduardo Cifuentes MuDoz and for the Constitutional Court, they were designated of ternas presented by the President of the Republic, the doctors Fabio Moron Díaz and José Gregorio Hernández Galindo.
While it began this way works the Court integrated, the Supreme Court of Justice continued knowing of the matters of constitutionality from June 1_ 1991 up to February of 1992, 17 it dates in the one which, settled the Constitutional Court for the President of the Republic of then, doctor Cesar Gaviria. As president of the first Court, the doctor was chosen Simón Rodríguez Rodríguez. For that date, you had resided 47 of unconstitutionality demands, 1005 actions of it guides and three legislative ordinances sent by the President of the Republic, in development of the state of economic and social emergency that had been declared at the beginning of the aDo 1992.
This first Court worked up to February of 1993, 28 having uttered in this initial stage, a total of 133 sentences of constitutionality and 628 shortcomings of it guides that sat down the first bases of the development jurisprudencial of the new Letter. Of this first stage, shortcomings like those of the Concordat, the economic emergency and the first are remembered you guide that sat down the bases of the constitutional new system.
Later on, the Law 5 ^ of 1992, organic law by means of which the Regulation of the Congress was adopted, the number of magistrates increased from the Constitutional Court to nine whose election was made of ternas integrated by the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State, December of 1992, 1_ date in which was integrated the Court that should begin the period of eight aDos for which was chosen, March 1_ 1993.
Members of this Constitutional new Court were the doctors Jorge Arango Mejía, Antonio Barrier Carbonell, Eduardo Cifuentes MuDoz, Carlos Gaviria Díaz, José Gregorio Hernández Galindo, Hernando Herrera Vergara, Alejandro Martínez Gentleman, Fabio Moron Díaz and Vladimiro Orange tree Table.
Later on, they entered to the Corporation, in the doctors' substitution Jorge Arango Mejía and Hernando Herrera Vergara, the doctors Alfredo Beltrán Sierra and Alvaro Tafur Galvis.
Transitorily, they exercised the magistracy in quality of having taken charge, the doctors Julio Caesar Ortiz Gutiérrez and for the first time, a woman, the doctor Carmenza Isaza of Gómez. Later on, the doctors Martha Sáchica Méndez and Brown Cristina Schlessinger and the doctor Jairo Charry Rivas.
It is for all grateful one the advance in the development jurisprudencial that you/they have represented those more than eight thousand sentences dictated by the Constitutional Court that however, and like it is characteristic of a democratic and pluralistic State, it has also generated lit polemic in the circle of the jurists and the Government, institutional confrontations at level of the high corporations of justice, but that equally, has wakened up the trust and the hope of the citizens in their institutions and in the certainty that the Constitution is not a mere theoretical formulation.
The intents of constitutional reformation to modify to this Corporation and inclusive, to suppress it and to return to the control in charge of the Supreme Court of Justice, they have failed.
Address: Building of Palacio of Justice of Bogotá, D.C., Calle 12 No.7-65. Telephone is the (571) 3506200
Magistrates
The Constitutional Court of Colombia is formed by 9 magistrates elected by the Senate of ColombiaSenate of Colombia
The Senate of the Republic of Colombia is the upper house of the Congress of Colombia, with the lower house being the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia...
for individual periods that can range from 2 to 8 years. Prospect candidates to become magistrates are proposed by the President of Colombia
President of Colombia
The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...
, the Supreme Court of Colombia
Supreme Court of Colombia
The Supreme Court of Colombia in Bogotá is the highest judicial body in civil and penal matters and issues of criminal and civil procedure in Colombia...
and the Council of State of Colombia
Council of State of Colombia
The Council of State of ColombiaState Council- It is conformed by twenty-seven magistrates that exercise during eight years.- It regulates the conflicts between the matters and the State.Superior Council of Judicature...
(each can propose up to 3 candidates). Candidates must possess different specialties in Colombian Law.
Current magistrates
President: Juan Carlos Henao PérezVicepresident: Gabriel Eduardo Mendoza Martelo
- María Victoria Calle CorreaMaría Victoria Calle CorreaMaría Victoria Calle Correa is a Magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, serving since April 2009. Calle is the second female magistrate...
- Mauricio González Cuervo
- Nilson Pinilla Pinilla
- Jorge Iván Palacio Palacio
- Jorge Ignacio Pretelt Chaljub
- Humberto Antonio Sierra Porto
- Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva
See also
- ConstitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
- ConstitutionalismConstitutionalismConstitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law"....
- Constitutional economicsConstitutional economicsConstitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as extending beyond the definition of 'the economic analysis of constitutional law' in explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the...
- JurisprudenceJurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
- Rule of lawRule of lawThe rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
- JudiciaryJudiciaryThe judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
- Rule of lawRule of lawThe rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
- Rule According to Higher LawRule according to higher lawThe rule according to a higher law means that no written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice...