The Constitution of Costa Rica is the supreme law of Costa Rica. At the end of the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, José Figueres Ferrer oversaw the Costa Rican Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the document. It was approved on 7 November 1949. Several older constitutions had been in effect starting from 1812, with the most recent former constitution ratified in 1871. Notably, Article 12 abolished the Costa Rican military, making Costa Rica the second nation after Japan to do so by law. Another notable clause is an amendment asserting the right to live in a healthy natural environment.
History First years of independence
The first Constitution ever to be implemented in the Costa Rican territory was the Cadiz Constitution or Spanish Constitution of 1812, which was in place between 1812 and 1814 and then again between 1820 and 1821; however soon after the Independence of Central America the Cadiz Constitution remained by decree of the Towns' Legates Junta which took over power as an interim government in the meantime a new constitutional text was drafted.Aguilar B., Aguilar Óscar (1974). La Constitución de 1949. Antecedentes y proyecciones. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Costa Rica.
The Towns' Legates Junta (or Junta de Legados de los Pueblos) sanctioned the Interim Fundamental Social Pact or Pact of Concord, Costa Rica's first Constitution on 1 December 1821. This Constitution was in force until 1823.
The Provincial Constituent Congress of Costa Rica was convened twice in the then Province of Costa Rica immediately after the independence of Spain. First with the country as a province, at least nominally, part of the First Mexican Empire, and the second as a province of the newly created Federal Republic of Central America. In both cases, it issued legal statutes that acted as provisional local constitutions.
The First Provincial Constituent Congress was convened after the elections of deputies who would represent Costa Rica in the Constituent Congress of Mexico in 1822, but who never held office because it was dissolved by the Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. The Junta Gubernativa decides then to convene a constituent congress to decide the fate of the country divided between republicans willing to succeed and imperialists loyal to Mexico, and this congress issued the First Political Statute of the Province of Costa Rica on March 19, 1823. Which was in force until the outbreak of civil war between monarchists and republicans of that year. After the war, when the Mexican Empire had fallen and Central America had become the United Provinces, another Provincial Congress was convened again by the interim president and leader of the winning Republican side Gregorio José Ramírez, who handed over the power to said body which held it between April 16 and on May 10, 1823. This Congress ratified the power of Ramírez, defined the capital of San José and issued the Second Political Statute of the Province of Costa Rica that temporarily served as a constitution within the Federation of Central America.
Federal Republic of Central America From May to November 1824 the Basis of the Federal Constitution was in place in all the Central American countries as part of the Federation: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, as a temporary constitution in the meantime the Central American Federal Constituent Assembly drafted the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America which was enacted on November 22, 1824 and was in place until the Federation's dissolution in 1838.GARCIA LAGUARDIA, Jorge Mario., El Federalismo en Centroamérica. Integración y Desintegración, disponible en: https://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/4/1640/10.pdf
State of Costa Rica
Still part of the Federal Republic, the Constituent Congress of the State of Costa Rica promulgated the Fundamental Law of the State of Costa Rica on 25 January 1825, during the presidency of Juan Rafael Mora Porras. The Fundamental Law was heavily influenced by the Cadiz Constitution. This Constitution would remain active until Costa Rica's departure from the Federal Republic in 1839. On 8 March 1841, dictator Braulio Carrillo Colina enacted the Decree of Basis and Guarantees, which worked as a de facto Constitution on his regime. Carrillo was toppled in April 1842 by the invasion of Honduran general Francisco Morazán, who abolished the Decree on 6 June 1842. The abolition was later confirmed by the Constituent Assembly instituted by Morazán on 24 August 1842.
Constituent Assemblies from 1838 to 1870
From 1838 to 1870, a large number of Constituent Assemblies with a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness, independence or legislative power were raised. As is the custom in Costa Rica, after a rupture of the constitutional order that defenestrates a government, a Constituent Assembly was convened. It legitimized the new government (a custom that was maintained in 1871, 1917 and 1949). During the very unstable second half of the nineteenth century in which there were many coups d'état, the Constitutions proliferated as much as the coups, as well as their Assemblies.
Braulio Carrillo assumes power in Costa Rica as a dictator in 1838 and calls a Constituent Assembly that is suspended indefinitely. Carrillo issues by decree the Law of Bases and Guarantees that operates as a de facto Constitution.
In April 1842 General Francisco Morazán took power in Costa Rica by overthrowing Carrillo and calling a Constituent Assembly in June. This would also have legislative powers, even though they are not specific to a Constituent Power.
Ousted Morazán and elected interim president José María Alfaro, on 5 April 1843, he convened a Constituent Assembly that was officially established on 1 June. This Constituent Assembly would be the second last to assume legislative powers, although it was mostly reduced to ratification of Alfaro's decrees. He drafted the Constitution of 1844, which would leave unhappy the military hierarchy that would overthrow the then ruler, Antonio Pinto Soares who would return power to Alfaro on 7 June 1846.
He reconvenes a Constituent Assembly that would function until 1847, issuing the Constitution of that year. Which would be reformed, again via Constituent, in 1848.
Being president José María Montealegre Fernández operated a Constituent Assembly from 16 October to 26 December 1859, which drafted the respective Constitution. The provisional governor José María Montealegre Fernández was elected as constitutional President for the period 1860 to 1863. For the triennium 1863 to 1866, Jesús Jiménez Zamora was elected, and within a few months of being in power he dissolved the Congress, although elections were quickly called to appoint a new one. Jimenez's successor was José María Castro Madriz, elected to the period 1866 to 1869; but Castro's desire to be succeeded by his Secretary of State Julián Volio Llorente provoked great opposition in certain political and military circles. On 1 November 1868, a military coup overthrew the government and broke the constitutional order again. The part of the Constitution of 1859 referred to the Executive Branch was again in effect for a brief period, from August to October 1870
In 1868, Jesús Jiménez Zamora overthrew José María Castro Madriz, convoking a constituent on November 15 of that year and legislating by decree authoritatively. The Assembly begins functions on January 1, 1869 and based on the Constitution of 1859, would issue on 18 February the Constitution of 1869, which would have an ephemeral duration then, overthrown Jiménez by Tomás Guardia and elected provisional president Bruno Carranza, he convenes a constituent in 1870 that accepts the resignation. The differences between this Assembly and the de facto president Tomás Guardia lead to the abolition of this by Guardia and the convening of a new Assembly in 1871 that drafted the Constitution of that year and the one with the longest duration in history, as it would last (except brief interruptions) until 1949.
National Constituent Assembly of 1871
The National Constituent Assembly of 1871 was convoked by the de facto Costa Rican President Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez after annulling the previous Assembly established in May 1870 by his predecessor and political rival Bruno Carranza Ramírez. Guardia called for new elections that selected a total of twenty constituent deputies who drafted the Political Constitution of 1870 strongly influenced by liberal ideas. This Constitution would be the longest lasting in Costa Rican history and would be taken as a basis by the constituents of 1949 to draft the respective Constitution.
National Constituent Assembly of 1917
The National Constituent Assembly of 1917 was convoked by the de facto Costa Rican President Federico Alberto Tinoco Granados after gaining power in the 1917 coup d'état in Costa Rica that overthrew Alfredo González Flores. Tinoco sought to legitimize his regime by creating a new model of republic, so the Constitution of 1871 was abolished. The Assembly began sessions on 11 April and ended on 8 June. One of its first decisions was to declare Tinoco the legitimate president of Costa Rica and extend its mandate to six years. It was constituted by 42 deputies who were elected in a rather questionable election where the opposition could not participate. All, except two deputies, belonged to the single party of the regime; the Peliquista Party. Only the deputies Otilio Ulate Blanco and Otto Cortés Fernández had been elected by the "Tinoquista Party".
A commission of former presidents was chosen to draft the 1917 Constitution, and it is considered one of the most reformist in history, although it had a very short life. Among other things, it postulated the duty of the State to protect the working class and created a bicameral Parliament with a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. It also endowed the population with a large number of civil rights, although more so in the theory that in practice, the Tinoquista regime was exceptionally repressive. In any case, after the overthrow of Tinoco in 1919, the Constitution of 1917 was abolished and restored from that of 1871, it would not be until 1949 that a new Constituent Assembly would be convened that would create another Constitution that would replace, to date, that of 1871.
Current The junta led by José Figueres Ferrer took office in Costa Rica on 8 May 1948 under the name of the Founding Junta of the Second Republic, and the same day provisionally reinstated the validity of the national chapters, individual and social rights of the 1871 Constitution. On 1948 September 3, the Junta called for elections for a Constituent Assembly, which opened on 15 January 1949. This Assembly recognized the verified presidential election in favor of Otilio Ulate Blanco and provided that he exercised the presidency from 1949 to 1953.
The Junta appointed a committee of jurists to prepare a draft Constitution. The Constituent Assembly rejected their draft and instead took as a basis for discussion the Constitution of 1871, although in the course of the revisions they admitted some elements of it. On 7 November 1949, the Assembly approved the new constitution, which is currently in force.
Summary Its original wording had 199 articles distributed in eighteen titles and 19 transitory articles.
Title 1 Declares that the Republic is free and independent, it proclaims that sovereignty resides in the nation, setting the limits of Costa Rican territory and consecrates its sovereignty over the airspace above its territory, territorial waters and constitutional platform. It provides that the government is popular, representative, alternative and responsible and is exercised by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. It provides that provisions contrary to the Constitution are null and that the Supreme Court can declare the laws and executive decrees unconstitutional. The army as a permanent institution is abolished.