Domestic Application of International Law in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter explores the deep interaction of Latin American constitutions with international law, and international human rights law in particular, as a contribution to the emerging field of “comparative foreign affairs law.” The chapter begins by describing how open constitutional clauses and the case law of domestic courts facilitate such a deep integration of domestic and international law in the region. It then explores the international factors that explain the interaction, focusing on the doctrine of “control of conventionality,” developed by the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The tide in the region, though, might be changing, and the chapter describes some of the incipient resistance that the deep integration of international law in domestic systems seems to be inspiring. The chapter concludes by considering the potential, and limits, of a “foreign relations law” field from the perspective of Latin America.