The Constitution of Uruguay is the supreme law of Uruguay. Its first version was written in 1830. Uruguay's first constitution was adopted in 1830, following the conclusion of the three-year-long Argentina-Brazil War in which Argentina and Uruguay acted as a regional federation: the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. Sponsored by the United Kingdom, the 1828 Treaty of Montevideo built the foundations for a Uruguayan state and constitution.
Versions
Original Constitution (1830 - 1918)
When it became independent on August 27, 1828, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (República Oriental del Uruguay) drew up its first constitution, which was promulgated on July 18, 1830. The 1830 constitution has been regarded as Uruguay's most technically perfect charter. Heavily influenced by the thinking of the French and American revolutions, it divided the government among the executive, legislative, and judicial powers and established Uruguay as a unitary republic with a centralized form of government. The bicameral General Assembly (Asamblea General) was empowered to elect a president with considerable powers to head the executive branch for a four-year term. The president was given control over all of his ministers of government and was empowered to make decisions with the agreement of at least one of the three ministers recognized by the 1830 constitution.
Like all of Uruguay's charters since then, the 1830 constitution provided for a General Assembly composed of a Chamber of Senators (Cámara de Senadores), or Senate (Senado), elected nationally, and a Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes), elected from the departments. Members of the General Assembly were empowered to pass laws but lacked the authority to dismiss the president or his ministers or to issue votes of no confidence. An 1834 amendment, however, provided for juicio político, or impeachment, of the ministers for "unacceptable conduct".
As established by the 1830 constitution, the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia), and lesser courts, exercised the judicial power. The General Assembly appointed the members of the high court. The latter – with the consent of the Senate in the case of the appellate courts – appointed the members of the lesser courts. The constitution also divided the country into departments, each headed by a governor appointed by the president and each having an advisory body called a Neighbors' Council (Consejo de Vecinos).[
Although the 1830 constitution remained in effect for eighty-seven years, de facto governments violated it repeatedly. In the 1878-90 period, the Blancos and Colorados initiated the framework for a more stable system through understandings called "pacts between the parties." This governing principle, called coparticipation (coparticipación), meaning the sharing of formal political and informal bureaucratic power, has been formally practiced since 1872.
After dictated the Declaration of National Independence, on August 25 1825, the Uruguayan State worked on the basis of the Assembly of Representatives of the Eastern Province, exercising the legislative functions; while the executive functions were exercised by a delegated Governor. Reached the pacification of the territory and established the institutional order, became necessary to endow the Nation with the legal document that collect the will to constitute itself like so, to organize its authorities and to recognize the fundamental rights of its citizens and inhabitants. By Decree of the delegated Governor, dated July 26, 1828, was called to the town to elect representatives to which been appointed then as "Room of Province", whose main assignment would be elaborate a National Constitution. Once chosen, the deputies met for the first time on November 22 1828 in the city of San Jose, in the house of the citizen Juan E. Durán, occurring the name of “Honorable Meeting of the Province “. Like the Assembly of 1825, tcomplied the indispensable legislative functions, in the meantime was sanctioned and put in practice the new Constitution. Among others, assumed the authority to name a Provisional Governor, to which to trust the executive functions; designation that was performed in the person of the Gral. José Rondeau, and temporarily, while Rondeau returned to the country, was appointed to Joaquín Suarez. Another important work that assumed the Meeting, was that of structuring a judicial organization, and of reorganizing the system of taxes since, still, continued being applied the one of the colonial time.
The one that promptly passed to be appointed officially as Constituent General Assembly and Legislative, considered President Gabriel Pereira, representative by Canelones; like first vice President to Silvestre Blanco, representative by Montevideo; as second vice President to Cristobal Echevarriarza, also representative by Montevideo. A Commission of Constitutional Matters was appointed to devise the project of the Constitutional Letter, which remained with the Presidency of Jaime Zudáñez, being a Secretary José Ellauri, both of Montevideo; and as the members Luis B. Cavia, Cristobal Echevarriarza, and Solano Garcia. Among others members of the Assembly that had noticeable participation in the elaboration of the Constitution, they figured Miguel Barreiro, Juan Benito Blanco, Alejandro Chucarro, Lazaro Gadea, Ramón Massini, Juan María Pérez, and Lorenzo Justiniano Pérez. The Commission carried out an excellent work, being inspired essentially in the constitutional antecedents of France and of the United States and, among the last one, in a special way in the concepts poured by Hamilton and Madison in the famous collection of constitutional studies of "The Federalist". Its project and report was submitted to consideration of the Assembly on May 6, 1829; being approved the final text on September 19 of the same year.
The Constituents of 1830: Julian Alvarez, Francisco Solano Antuña, Juan Benito Blanco, Silvestre Blanco, Manuel Maximo Barreiro, or Miguel Barreiro, Miguel Antonio Berro, Pedro Francisco Berro, Manuel Caballeros, Bernardino Luis Cavia, Alejandro Chucarro, Antonio Domingo Costa, Cristóbal Echevarriarza, Pedro Pablo de la Sierra, Tomás Diago, Jose Ellauri, Manuel J. Errazquin, Eugenio Fernandez, Lorenzo Fernandez, Lazaro Gadea, Francisco García Cortinas, Roque Graseras, Nicolas Guerra, Manuel Haedo, Juan Pablo Laguna, Luis Lamas, Atanasio Lapido, Francisco Llambí, Eufemio Masculino, Ramon Masinni, Francisco Joaquin Muñoz, Joaquin Alvaro Núñez, Jose L. Osorio, Manuel Vicente Pagola, Cipriano Payán, Gabriel Antonio Pereira, Jose Pereyra de la Luz, Juan Maria Perez, Lorenzo Justiniano Perez, Jose Ramirez, Feliciano Rodriguez, Santiago Sayago, Joaquin Suárez, Jose Trápani, Agustín Urtubey, Jose Vázquez Ledesma, Santiago Vázquez, Francisco Antonio Vidal, Jaime Zudáñez.
The Constitution structured to the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay as an unit State - not federal - adopting the form of republican-representative government. The antecedents of the Assembly show that the Constituents of 1830 had very clear concept of the reach of the representative principle of government; which signifies that the rulers are chosen for their charges by their capacities to exercise them, but they are not subject to the dictations of their voters, but in the exercise of the civil service they should employ their own discernment and to adopt the decisions that seem to the most convenient for the country. As republican government, is considered that the sovereignty situates not in the "town" but in the Nation; that is the social community considering all its artistic, traditional, historic, cultural, human components, etc. The Nation express itself through the electoral body, that is composed by those inhabitants that are citizens, because they gather the requirements to be it; and its sovereign power is delegated by the constitutional pact in the three Powers: Legislative, Executive and Judicial, all which they remain submitted to the own Constitution and to the Laws. As supreme organ of the Legislative Power, composed by, a General Assembly, composed by two Cameras, the one of Deputies and the one of Senators was created; that normally the study and sanction of the Laws work separately for. The deputies are elect by the citizens of each Department; but the Senators are elect by the set of the citizens of all the country. Besides dictating the Laws and to establish the taxes, the General Assembly had, in the Constitution of 1830, the most important attribution to choose to the President of the Republic and to the upper courts of Justice. In this aspect, the Constitution established that the maximum hierarchy of the Judicial Power would be the High Court of Justice, but this was not established until year 1907. The President of the Republic exercised for itself only the Executive Power, he named and he dismissed the Ministers, and was the upper Leader of the Army. The system of government was presidencialist; because the General Assembly lacked attributions to take part in the appointment or destitution of the Ministers and could only dismiss to the President of the Republic in absolutely exceptional cases. Almost the unique restriction to the authority of the President on the part of the Assembly, was the requirement of its consent to suspend the guarantees of individual security; which only could be made to catch to the delinquents of treason or conspiracy against the Country. The State was unitary, and not federal, because all the Powers were of national character; but to the effects of the administration of the most specifically local matters, the Departments existed, at the front of which they acted the calls "Political Chief" attended of some directly elected Meetings by the citizen of the Department, calls Economic-Administrative Meetings.
They were recognized like fundamental rights of the man and the citizen, that belong them naturally and therefore they are above the authority of the State except when its exercise can damage the right of another, the freedom, and the property. As components of the general right of freedom, they are counted:
*Not to be obliged to do but what the Law send or not to be impeded to do what the Law does not prohibit.
*To enter to the country, to circulate freely around it, and to leave taking all its properties.
*Not to be a prisoner but in case of realizing a previously definite act as crime, and immediately to be judged by an existing court previously; should be considered innocent while the opposite does not try on, giving opportunity to defend itself him, to present/display tests and to appeal the sentence.
*The inviolability of the residence save when exist court order, only applicable during the hours of the day.
*The expression and communication of the thoughts without subject to reproof.
*The secret of the correspondence and the respect to the privacy of all its documents, so much regarding the organs of the State as of other people. As demonstrations of the right to the property, fits to consider:
*The right to the security of the own goods, and the obligation to safeguard them.
*The right to be not private of its goods but by decision emanated of the Law and subject to payment of compensation; or by judicial sentence only when have caused damage to another, dictated in “had to legal process” del that properly has inquired, where it has been possible to defend themselves and to present/display tests, as well as to appeal the first sentence.
*The right to undertake and to direct any commercial, industrial or productive activity that is allowed.
The Constitution of 1830 contained some dispositions and statements that are explicable by reason of historic antecedents; like one of which the Oriental State is not neither will be never patrimony of person or any family, that is explained relating to the monarchical conceptions. In the same way, the call was determined "liberty of belly ", when determining that "Nobody will be born already slave in the territory of the State". The citizenship was recognized to the born in the country or the foreign children of national when were situated in the country. But the citizenship was suspended by not knowing how to read or to write, to have the habit of intoxication, by vagancia; and to be in situation of subjection or dependency as a result of being welded of line, crew member, laborer or day laborer. The ceremonies to swear the new Constitution solemnly, were indicated for day 18 of 1830 July. In hours in the morning, the ceremony was realised in which the members of the own Constituent National Assembly took oath, the Provisory Governor that was the Gral. Juan Antonio Lavalleja, as well as the Superior commanders of the Army and the Public Administration. The main ceremony, nevertheless, was carried out in hours in the afternoon, in the current Plaza "Constitution" - then called main square - set against the building that had been erected for the city Hall of Montevideo, and in which had functioned in the last times the Constituent Assembly. On one of the sides of said Plaza, they had been formed - according to a historic story - the military troops to the command of the Colonels Manuel Oribe and Eugenio Garzón dresses with bright full-dress uniforms of noticeable colors. Each member of the troops took oath to the Constitution in front of a cross maintained by an Official, conformed by the gun and the saber. Immediately, all the civilians met in the Plaza, were guests to rise so on to a platform placed set against the city Hall, in whose balconies the public authorities were found, to take oath of fidelity to the Constitution happening in front of the Ordinary Mayor of Montevideo. A similar ceremony was realised also in all the cities and populated of certain importance of the interior of the country. Upon presenting the Constitution, the constituent José Ellauri expressed that he would serve to govern the political life and civilian of the Nation, "if you resign you to govern for her your conducts." In spite of the political ups and downs that the destiny reserved to the Republic, the Constitution of 1830 effectively governed the life of the country during near a century; until to be reformed for the first time in 1916. For now, it was the one that had a more extensive period of force without being modified.
The oath.
"¿You swear to God and to the Country to comply and to cause to comply as soon as depend of You, the Constitution of the "República Oriental del Uruguay" promulged September 10, 1829 by the representatives of the Nation? You swear to maintain and to defend the form of Republican Representative government who establishes the Constitution? If therefore you done God will help you; if not, He and the Country will demand it to you”
Fuentes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Uruguay