Fundamental aspects of the Constitution of 1988

Abstract

The article analyzes first the general features of the Constitution of 1988, comparing it to constitutions of the classical type, such as the warranty-constitution, the balance-constitution and the directing-constitution, that is near to ours. It broaches then the questions of non-self-executable rules and their complementation by means of judicial command, a question of relevance in a constitution such as ours. It reminds us of the recent lesson of the portuguese master Jorge de Miranda and the distinction made by him between "self-executable rules", "preceptoral non-self-executable rules" and "program rules". It discusses the four kinds of non-immediately-self- executable rules: program rules, structure rules, strictly speaking incomplete rules and conditioned rules. It goes on to discuss the questions of system of government, of the option of president vs parliament, going into a brief history of the subject and making an analysis of the process of making the constitution and of how our constitution solves the question and finishing the subject with an analysis of the power of the president. It broaches then the Economical Order of the Constitution with the themes 'Types of Economical Organization", of the boundaries between private and public enterprise, of the determination of the juridical regime of the production factors and the definition of the end and general principles of economical life. The article ends with the balance of the practical results of the implantation of the new Constitution, and an analysis of the conjuncture of the political and institutional crisis the country is going through.