A CONSTITUIÇÃO DE CÁDIS ENTRE A TRADIÇÃO E A MODERNIDADE

Abstract

In Spain, the Cadiz Constitution of 1812 represented a milestone in the history of modern
constitutionalism, especially in Latin American. Deeply liberal, brought in its wake important
achievements already positivated in the French Constitution of 1791, as the principle of
popular sovereignty and the guarantee of individual rights but differentiated from it by
treating equally the citizens of the metropolis and the colony. It was enacted as a fundamental
and constitutive law of the Spanish Catholic monarchy and, therefore, made use of three
instruments: the oath, violations of procedures and rigorousness in reformation. In fact, the
breakdown of traditional legal-political configuration and its therefore recovery meant
reconfiguring traditional elements of the old order than the transition to legal modernity.
Thus, as it was already stated by Alexis de Tocqueville in relation to the Prussian code, the
gaditan Constitution resembles a monstrous being, equipped with a modern head on a gothic
body.