ALCANCES DEL CONTROL DIFUSO DE CONSTITUCIONALIDAD EN EL ÁMBITO REGISTRAL PERUANO.

Abstract

The Constitutional Tribunal (CT) of Peru, by means of its Ruling of 12/06/05 (which was developed later by the Ruling of 24/10/06 and further focused by the Ruling of 13/10/06), opened the possibility of administrative courts' performing diffuse control. Although at first the CT indicated that the application of said control over legislation was optional, later it indicated that diffuse control was a duty: «The right and the duty of administrative courts and judicial panels to prefer the Constitution over the law, i.e., to perform diffuse control (objective dimension), forms part of the protected constitutional content of the citizen's fundamental right to due process and procedural protection in administrative courts (subjective dimension) ». This is significant, whereas non-observance would violate the right to due process (procedure)». Having said this, the Court extended the terms of article 138 of the Peruvian Constitution (a course that is in itself questionable), which empowered judges only. This has the natural consequence of adjusting the dimension of the principle of legality to suit the type of state we have adopted: «In this sense, the principle of legality in the constitutional State does not merely mean enforcement of and compliance with what a law establishes, but also, principally, the law's compatibility with the objective order of constitutional principles and values», and the Court moreover indicated, «Otherwise, the application of an unconstitutional law by the public administration implies a denial of the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution, and that of its legislative force, because we would be giving priority to the principle of legality, to the detriment of the juridical supremacy of the Constitution established in articles 38, 51 and 201 of the Constitution; which subverts the very fundaments of the constitutional and democratic State». These rulings have aroused a variety of critiques in the Peruvian legal sphere, arguing, amongst other things, that the exercise of diffuse control by the public administration may affect legal certainty, affect the principle of administrative legality, generate chaos and affect the rule of law. This text describes the state of the question of these rulings and their involvement in the registration sphere.