Comella, Victor Ferreres --- "The Rise of Specialized Constitutional Courts" [2011] ELECD 375; in Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind (eds), "Comparative Constitutional Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Comparative Constitutional Law

Editor(s): Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848445390

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: The Rise of Specialized Constitutional Courts

Author(s): Comella, Victor Ferreres

Number of pages: 13

Extract:

15. The rise of specialized constitutional courts
Víctor Ferreres Comella



1 WHAT ARE SPECIALIZED CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS? SOME
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS
An increasing number of countries have decided to establish special courts to deal with
constitutional matters. They are often called `constitutional courts' (or `constitutional
tribunals'). This expression, however, can be used in different ways.
Strictly speaking, `constitutional courts' are special institutions that are separate from
the rest of the judiciary. This is the standard way of using the expression in the literature
(Fromont, 1996; Rousseau, 1998; Stone Sweet, 2000; Schwartz, 2000; Olivetti and Groppi,
2003; Sadurski, 2002, 2005; Ginsburg, 2003; Ferreres Comella, 2009). Constitutional
courts, so conceived, are especially widespread in Europe. Out of the 27 states that make
up the European Union, for example, 18 have created such bodies (Austria, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain). Post-
communist Europe is strongly associated with constitutional courts too. We also find them
in other regions in the world ­ in Latin America, Africa and Asia (for a comprehensive
view, see Ramos, 2006).
It is possible, however, to use this expression in a broader sense, to also encompass insti-
tutions that are specialized in constitutional law even if they are not organically detached
from the rest of the judiciary. In some Latin American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Venezuela), for example, a special chamber within the
regular supreme court has been set up to deal with constitutional ...