Understanding the Chilean Constitution: Key Principles and Rights

Posted on Nov 6, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

Dogmatic Part of the Constitution

This section defines the core principles and constitutional duties, representing the nation’s foundational beliefs and values.

Organic Part of the Constitution

This section outlines the State Organs, their functions, powers, and interrelationships, including the process of member selection.

Constitutional Rights (D° Constitucional)

Based on a naturalist perspective, these rights are inherent to human nature, not granted by the State or law. While the State may limit their exercise, it is bound by the Constitution (Clause 19 No 26). These rights are further reinforced by international treaties like the Pact of San José de Costa Rica (1969) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966). The Constitution recognizes all inherent human rights (Art. 5 inc. 2°).

Fundamental Rights (D° Fundamental)

These are essential rights recognized by law, crucial for a person’s spiritual and material well-being. Their violation significantly hinders personal development.

Reasons for Listing Rights (Xq lists the 19)

  1. Institutionalizing the rights of nature addresses the burden of proof and clarifies legal standing.
  2. A general text provides legal certainty, enabling long-term planning based on predictable rights protection.
  3. Defining constitutional content sets clear boundaries for rights and their limitations.
  4. The Constitution determines how rights are protected, balancing individual freedoms with societal interests.

Constitutional Guarantees

Fundamental rights are central to the Constitution’s legitimacy. Guarantees are established to safeguard these rights.

Foundations of Security

  1. Philosophers like Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire contributed to the concept of popular sovereignty, emphasizing that only Parliament (representing the people) can restrict rights, not the king by decree.
  2. Laws, as general, abstract, and impersonal rules, apply equally to all. The Constitution (Art. 19 26) limits the legislature’s power to restrict rights, requiring explicit constitutional provisions and prohibiting limitations that affect the essence or free exercise of rights.

The Constitutional Court (TC), drawing from German jurisprudence, defines the essence of a right as its core identity. Limitations that distort or make a right unrecognizable affect its essence. Determining the essence considers historical case law, constitutional provisions, and contemporary doctrine.

Limitations on rights must adhere to the following:

  1. Established directly by the Constitution or legislature.
  2. Legislative limitations require explicit constitutional authorization.
  3. Cannot affect the essence of the right.
  4. Cannot impede its free exercise.

Protection of Rights

  1. Rights in No. 7 (personal liberty and security) are protected by the writ of amparo.
  2. Most other rights are covered by the recurso de protección (protection resource).
  3. Other avenues include:
  • Acción Constitucional de Nulidad (Constitutional Action for Nullity): Declares invalid any illegal act of authority that violates Article 3 Inc. 1.
  • Acción Constitucional de Responsabilidad del Estado (Constitutional Action for State Responsibility): Addresses damages caused by the state, whether acting legally or illegally, that individuals are not constitutionally obligated to bear.
  • Inapplicability and unconstitutionality claims.

Right to Life and Physical and Mental Integrity (19 No. 1)

This individual right requires others to refrain from threatening one’s life or physical/psychological integrity. It protects biological life, distinct from health.

Social Rights (D° Social)

These rights involve state-provided economic benefits and services, incurring financial costs. Protection resources may not fully cover these rights due to potential strain on state resources.

Suicide

Suicide is considered unlawful under the Constitution, as it threatens the protected right to life. While the Penal Code doesn’t directly penalize attempted suicide, those assisting in suicide are subject to criminal sanctions.

Euthanasia

Euthanasia, ending the life of a terminally ill person to alleviate suffering, has two forms:

  1. Active Euthanasia: Always unconstitutional, involving directly providing means for death.
  2. Passive Euthanasia: Generally not unconstitutional. Withholding extraordinary life-sustaining treatment that prolongs suffering is permissible, but denying basic care like food is unconstitutional.