Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

I. COUNTRY PROFILE (Civil Law)
ARGENTINA
Republica Argentina (Argentine Republic)
Argentina is a federal, democratic republic comprised of twenty-three provinces. It is a
civil law system primarily influenced by Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. The official
language is Spanish.
The Constitution, adopted in 1853 and most recently amended in 1994, provides for a
tripartite government with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The provinces and the
City of Buenos Aires enjoy autonomy and choose their own authorities. Each province and the
City of Buenos Aires enacts its own constitution; each provincial constitution provides for
municipal autonomy and the scope of its own institutional, political, administrative, economic
and financial powers.
The President is the head of state and exercises the executive power. The Constitution
requires that the President be elected directly by the people every four years and not serve more
than two consecutive terms. Except for the Supreme Court Justices, the President has to select
each federal judge from a list of three candidates that is prepared by the Judiciary Council
(Consejo de la Magistratura). The President appoints the Supreme Court Justices and the other
federal court judges with the consent of the Senate.
The legislative power is vested in the Congress (Honorable Congreso de la Nación),
which is comprised of the Senate (Cámara de Senadores) and the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara
de Diputados). By direct vote, the people of the provinces and those of the City of Buenos Aires
elect representatives to the Chamber of Deputies. Deputies are elected for four years and may be
reelected. The Senate consists of three senators from each province, and three from the City of
Buenos Aires; among the three senators, two represent the majority party and the remaining
senator represents the minority party. Senators serve for six years and can be reelected
indefinitely. The judicial power in Argentina is divided into federal and provincial courts, each
of which consists of supreme courts, courts of appeal, and lower courts. The courts are further
divided in accordance with their areas of specialty.
The National Supreme Court (Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación) possesses the
supreme judicial power and has nine members appointed by the President. It has exclusive and
original jurisdiction in cases that involve ambassadors, public ministers, consuls and also those
in which a province is a party. Lower courts, both at the appellate level and the first instance
level, have their own specialty. A list of federal courts is provided in Part 3.2 below. The
provincial court system has a similar structure to that of the federal court system. The
jurisdiction of the provincial courts includes all matters that do not fall under federal jurisdiction.
The number and the name of the provincial courts vary, depending on the province. A list of
typical provincial courts is provided in Part 3.2 below. In addition to the federal and provincial
courts, the autonomous city of Buenos Aires has its own courts as listed in Part 3.2 below.
Internet Resources:
The President
http://www.presidencia.gov.ar
Minister of Justice
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