The meaning of Constitution. Brief review of the concept and its relevance in the light of principialism and garantism

Abstract

Since ancient Greece, the Constitution has had different meanings and contents. This has not depended only on the diverse configuration of political institutions or on the inclusion in its text of clauses protecting rights and freedoms, but also on the protective scope and specific design of the guarantor system. All of this has involved the creation of systems of means of constitutional control and a re-dimensioning of the Constitution, to the point of concluding, at present, its supreme norm and parameter of validity of the entire legal order, especially in societies with full democ-racy. In this sense, this work raises the pertinence of considering the debate between the constitutionalist versions of principles and guarantees as an opportunity to strengthen the meaning of Constitution in terms of supreme norm that, simultaneously, limits the confines and the distribution of political power, Prevents and sanctions the excesses of power, gives effectiveness to the protection of rights, enhances the dignity of the human person, radiates coherence to the legal order and determines the parameters of validity of lower standards. Therefore, the borders between these constitutionalist versions can be softened in many points, which can be treated in an interchangeable way, although the question of the confrontation between law and morality persists as an obtuse zone that hinders or precludes the unification of contemporary constitutionalism.