Preface. With some comments on the amparo as an instrument of ius constitutionale commune

• Author: Allan R. Brewer-Carías
• Profession: Emeritus Professor of Law, Central University of Venezuela Adjunct Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, New York (2006-2008)
• Pages: 13-33

13

ÍNDICE

PREFACE

WITH SOME COMMENTS ON THE AMPARO

AS AN INSTRUMENT OFIUS

CONSTITUTIONALE COMMUNE

I

This book on The Civil Ri ghts Injunction f or the protection o f Fundamental Righ ts.

The Latin America n «Amparo» Proceeding,is the original version of the text I wrote

for the Couse of Lectures I gave, as Adjunct Pro fessor o f Law, on a Seminar on

Judicial Protection of F undamental R ights in Latin America: the Ampar o Proceeding , a t

the Colu mbia Law School in New York, University of Columbia, during the years

2006-2008.* Thanks to the iniciative of Professor Geroge Be rgman of the Columbia

Law School, and President of th e Intern ational Academy of Compa rative La w, I

was able to continue my teaching at a time when I was beginning my now long

exile in New Y ork.

The Seminar was intended to examine the most recent trends in the constitutional

and l egal regulations in all Latin American countries regarding the «amparo» suit,

action or recourse󰜔 including the old habeas corpus writ and the new habeas data actions

or recourses. By means of a compar ative c onstitutional law approach, also with

reference to the United States civil rights injunctions, the Course analyzed this Latin

Americ an i nstitution depar ting from the regulation of the «amparo » g uarantee

established in Article 25 of the 19 69 American Convention of Human Rights which

entered into force in 1978 after being ratified by all Latin American States.

The ampa ro suit or proceeding i s not only an effective judicial m eans for th e

restoration of the injur ed co nstitutional rights that has been harmed, si milar to

the reparative or res torative civ il rights injunction s in the United Stat es, but it i s

also the effective judicial means for the protection of such rights and guaranties

when threatened to be vio lated or harmed. T his latter amparo su it is then similar

to th e preventive civil rights injunctions in the United States; «preve ntive» in the

*This original version of the Course o f Lecture was initially published by the Columbia Law

School for the exclusive use of the students (New York, 2006, 383 pp.); and was included

in my book : Judici al Rev iew. Com parative Constitucional Law Essays, Lectures and Courses

(1985-2011), Fundación de Derecho Público, Editorial Jurídica Ven ezolana, Caracas 2014,

pp. 435-847. An abridge and revised version of this Course of Lectures was published in

2009: Constitutio nal Pro tection o f Human Rights in Latin America. A C omparative Study of

Amparo Proceedings, Cambri dge University Press, New York 2009, 432 pp.

14

ALLAN R. BREWER󰜔CARÍAS

sense of avoid ing harm; 1 which, in this case, «seeks to prohibit som e discrete act

or series of acts f rom occu rring in the future» 2, an d is designe d to avoid future

harm to a party by prohibiting or mandating certain behaviorto another party.

From that point of view, thus, in a constitutional comparative law approach,

the Latin American amparo action or proceeding, is a judicial remedy similar to the

civil rights injunctions (restorative or pr eventive) in the United States.

Although during the past years some changes have occur red in some of the

Latin American countries on these matters of judicial protection of fundamental rights,

I have decided to publish the lectures delivered fifteen years ago, in its integrality, as

they were: the written work of a law professor made as a consequen ce of his research

for the preparation of his lectures, not pretending to be anything else, but the academic

testimony of the state of the subject of the amparo proceeding in Latin America in

2006-2008.

II

That is why, in this Preface, as a sort of specific update, I am including the

foll owing com ments on th e «Amparo as an instr ument ofIus Con stituti onale

Commune»,* refer ring in general to this injunction agains t an y k ind of vi olation

affecting fundamen tal ri ghts, in particular, when committed by public officials, 3

which without doubts, is perhaps the most Latin American of all constitutional law

institutions developed in the continent.

The ampa ro proceeding serves as the common judicial guarantee of rights. It

is meant to protect, not only the rights established in na tional constitutional law,

but also those found in the relevant applicable international law, those which are

part of the «constitutional block󰜚 (bloque de constitutionalidad) of all Latin Ameri can

1See William M. TABB and El iane W. SHOBEN,Remedies, Thomson West, 200 5, p. 22. The last

sentence is very important from the terminological point of view when comparing the injunctions

with the amparo suits: in Spanish the word «preventivo» is used in procedural law (medidas

preventivas o cautelares) to refers to the «temporary»: or «preliminary» orders or restraints that in

North America the judge can issue during the proceeding. So the preventive character of the

amparo and of the injunctions cannot be confused with the «medidas preventivas» or temporary

or preliminary measures that the courts can issue during the trial for the immediate protection

of rights, facing the prospect of an irremediable harm that can be caused.

2See Owen M. Fiss,The Civil Rights Injunction, Indiana University Press, 1978, p. 7.

*These comments are based on the paper I wrote on the «Amparo as an instrument of ius

constitutionale commune» for the book edi ted by: Armin von Bogdandy, Eduardo Ferrer

Mad-Gregor, Mariekla Morales Antoniazzi , Flávia Piovesan and Ximena Soley (Editrors),

Transforma tive C onstitutionali sm In Latin America. The Emergence of a New Ius Commune ,

Oxford University Press 2017, pp. 171-190.

3This remedy has rec eived different denominations, alwa ys meani ng the same:Amparo

(Guatemala), Acción de amparo (Ar gentina, Ecuad or, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ve-

nezuela), Acción de tutela (Col ombia),Juicio de amparo (Méx ico),Proceso de amparo (El

Salvador, Perú), Recurso de ampa ro (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Domini can Republic, Nicaragua,

Panama), Recurso de protección (Chile) or Man dado de segurança andmandado de inju nçao

(Brazil ). See Alla n R. Brewer-C arías,Constitution al Pr otection of Human Rights in Latin

America: A Comparative Stury of the Amparo Proceeding,Cambridge University Press, New

York, 2008 ); El amparo a los derechos y garantías constitucionales. Una aproximación compara-

tiva, Editorial Jurídica Venezolana , Caracas , 1993;Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor, «Breves

notas sobre el amparo latinoamericano (desde el derecho procesal constitucional compa-

rado)», in Héctor Fix-Zamudio and Fer rer Mac-Gregor,El derecho de amparo en el mundo

(Porrúa, México City, 2006) 3-39.