The legal system of
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
belongs to the
Continental Law
Civil law is a legal system originating in mainland Europe and adopted in much of the world. The civil law system is intellectualized within the framework of Roman law, and with core principles codified into a referable system, which serves as t ...
tradition. Venezuela was the first country in the world to
abolish the death penalty for all crimes, doing so in 1863.
Public law
The basis for its
public law is the 1999
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
. The 1999 Constitution made significant changes to the
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
. Instead of the usual three branches of government, the new Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has five:
# The executive branch (the Presidency).
# The legislative branch (the
National Assembly of Venezuela
The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...
).
# The judicial branch (the judiciary).
# The electoral branch (''poder electoral'', or "electoral power").
# The citizens' branch (''poder ciudadano'', or "citizens' power").
The electoral branch is headed by the
National Electoral Council (CNE) and is responsible for the independent oversight of all municipal, state, and federal elections in the country. The citizens' branch is constituted by the ''(defensor del pueblo)'' (
ombudsman or "defender of the people"), the
Chief Public Prosecutor ''(fiscal general)'', and the comptroller general ''(contralor general)''. It is responsible for representing and defending the citizens in their dealings with powers of the Venezuelan state.
The judicial branch is headed by the
Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose 32 justices ("magistrados") are elected by the National Assembly for a single 12-year term.
Criminal Law
Until 1998 Venezuelan criminal law was governed by the ''Código de Enjuiciamiento Criminal'' of 1926. The 1926 procedures "followed many of the traditional rules of inquisitorial tradition",
[Alguindigue, Carmen; Perdomo, Rogelio Perez (2008), "Inquisitor Strikes Back: Obstacles to the Reform of Criminal Procedure", ''Southwestern Journal of International Law'', Vol. 15, Issue 1 (2008), pp. 101-122] with the pretrial process substantially under the judge's control. At the initial ''sumario'' step a judge would direct the police investigation; and after apprehension by police, the judge had 72 hours to decide whether to keep suspects in detention. At the second ''plenario'' step the process became more adversarial and documents of process made available to the defendant, but the judge still had "wide discretion to pursue charges beyond those outlined in the accusation".
[ The 1926 code was established by the dictator ]Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón (24 July 1857 – 17 December 1935) was a Venezuelan military general, Politician and ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, ruling through puppe ...
, and represented a substantial change from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century procedures, where Venezuela had jury trials and oral procedures in some states.[ Gómez standardised legal procedures and suppressed juries.][
In July 1998 Venezuela's criminal law was radically reformed, with the replacement of the 1926 code with the ''Código Orgánico Procesal Penal''.][ The old secret ''sumario'' phase was abolished, and defendants had the immediate right to a lawyer on arrest or indictment.][ The indictment and police investigation process was now controlled by prosecutors rather than judges, and suspects had to be charged within 24 hours.][ For more serious crimes, jurors would be involved.][ ]Plea bargaining
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...
was accepted, and in some cases defendants could avoid punishment by making restitution to their victims.[ However, the radical package of reforms, partly inspired by ]Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's "liberal code, low crime, and notably small incarcerated population"[ ignored the dominant Venezuelan culture "in which the only conceivable form of punishment is prison or corporal punishment".][
Within a year of the new criminal code, commissions had been formed to consider revising it.][ The first reform, in March 2000, ][ among other changes reinstated the old 72-hour time limit for judicial decision on imprisonment. The reform was presented as "a necessary defense of society from criminality, implying that the new code was ill-adapted to Venezuelan society and overly lenient toward criminals."][ Further changes in November 2001 made a substantial number of changes which "left very little of the original spirit of the 1998 code".][ Jury trials were abolished, and among changes prosecutors were given six months to proceed with trial or drop charges.][ In 1999 - 2001 a high proportion of jury trials had been postponed, as a range of problems with the new jury approach remained to be addressed. However other delays were more significant contributors to postponement.][ Whilst the number of criminal judges more than doubled from 1998 to 2004, the number of prosecutors did not substantially increase, despite the increased importance of this office in the legal system.][ The Venezuelan Fiscal General estimated 2900 cases per prosecutor in 2004, rising to 4000 in 2006.][
In 2012 Venezuela banned the possession of firearms in public places. In addition, it banned the commercial sale and private import of firearms and ammunition, following a public consultation showing strong support for the measure.][ '' El Universal'', 2 March 2012]
El Aissami anuncia prohibición de comercialización de armas a civiles
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References
{{South America topic, Law of
Law of Venezuela
Law in South America