Of the origin and evolution of the judicial review in Venezuela

Abstract

     This article presents a journey through the origins and evolution of constitutional jurisdiction in Venezuela, in what the author calls constitutional milestones. He emphasizes the Constitution of 1811 as a pioneer in establishing the principle of constitutional supremacy and an implicit judicial review by the judges (diffuse), until the formal establishment in the Constitution of 1858, through the class action, of a concentrated judicial review in the head of the former Supreme Court of Justice, thus creating a mixed system of judicial review until the present, in addition to the vacuum, still existing, of a law regulating the constitutional jurisdiction. The author emphasizes is placed on the North American roots of constitutional control and its reception in the postulates of the Venezuelan constitutions of the 19th century; at the end in the reflections it is established that the constitutional justice itself and the legislative power have interpreted the constitutional principles and norms in such a way that, in practice, they annulled the very foundations of the Democratic State of Law in Venezuela, it is proposed to fill the void still present in the Venezuelan constitutional justice, with the enactment of a law regulating this jurisdiction, likewise, the preponderance of diffuse control of constitutionality over concentrated control (without eliminating it) and self-containment is raised to limit judicial creationism and respect the separation of powers.