FEDERALISM, RIGHTS, AND EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW. A LEGAL HISTORICAL APPROACH TO THE ARGENTINE CASE.

Abstract

The Argentine constitutional model combines, as is well known, a federal political structure with some typical features of unitary systems. This paper analyzes the tension between the system of codified national substantive law and the preservation of provincial jurisdictions in the application of the codes. It seeks to show that, as an effect of these tensions, the dominant interpretation has validated a constitutional assessment in which the organization of jurisdictional powers has greater relevance than the principle of equality before the law, with the consequent postponement of a basic principle of the liberal discourse.