The structure of the bolivian legal system and the relationships between the sources of their law according to the valid constitution

Abstract

The recently in force Bolivian Constitution of 2009 brings a change in the structure of the legal system. This paper analyzes such change through the formal relations among the legal sources and exposes the structure of the Unitarian and territorially decentralized State shaped by the Constitution. Besides a previous theoretical frame, the paper is divided into two main parts: the first one regards the Constitution as a legal source, and includes the legal consequences of its supremacy, the limits of the interpretation clause of the Constitution and the application of the stare decisis doctrine to the Constitutional Court precedents; the second part exposes the ordinary legal sources, its respective position in the structure of the legal system and the formal relations among them.