Rights
1967 Constitution with referendum and plebiscite mechanisms
Uruguay's 1967 Constitution, restored in 1985 after the dictatorship, provides for direct-democracy tools used more actively than almost anywhere: citizens can force a referendum to repeal a statute and can initiate constitutional plebiscites. Constitutional review is exercised by the Suprema Corte de Justicia, whose declaration of unconstitutionality applies to the case before it rather than annulling the law generally.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary republic with national constitutional jurisdiction
- Deadline — Amparo: 30 days from the act or omission
- Deadline — Referendum against a statute: signatures collected within one year of promulgation
Governing law
- Constitución de la República Oriental del Uruguay1967, as amended
- Ley 16.011 - Acción de Amparo
In practice
Two features distinguish Uruguayan constitutional law: inter partes constitutional review, so a successful challenge disapplies the statute only for that litigant, and the intensity of direct democracy, which has been used to repeal privatisation laws and to entrench pension rules. The 1989 referendum upholding the amnesty law, and the Supreme Court's later Gelman-driven reversal of that position, illustrate the interaction between popular vote and Inter-American obligations.