The Rule of the Courts

The algorithm that pronounces the words of the law

progress through the liberation of productive forces, capital, and labour, and the creation of national markets. National markets were established, promoting economic development and progress, through legislation. Parliamentary law was characterised as the expression of the general will, and all the elements of legitimacy at that time were embodied within it. The law was considered legitimate because it reflected national or popular sovereignty. Furthermore, it connected with the cultural currents of the time as it was seen as the embodiment of reason – the great philosophical driving force of the revolution 13 . As Manuel García Pelayo pointed out, at that historical moment the law had not only a political dimension, but also a cultural one because it was equated with scientific law. Just as scientific law dissolves knowledge based on immediate appearances and common sense to allow for the creation of a new reality, political law possesses that same capacity 14 . The parliamentary law enshrined all the legitimacy necessary for the revolution, which explains the subordinate role assigned to the courts. The circle thus always closes in favour of the new order, which possesses not only political but also scientific legitimacy – the two most powerful instruments of legitimation in the new era. The imposition of the law leaves no room for doctrinal and theoretical development 15 , and even less for the 13 As indicated by Ernst Cassirer, the various directions that the spirit must take, if it intends to decipher the totality of reality and form the corresponding image, only apparently diverge. These directions, considered objectively, appear divergent, but the different energies of the spirit are condensed into a centre of common force (...) When the eighteenth century wants to designate this force, when it tries to condense its essence in a single word, it appeals to the noun reason . Reason becomes a unitary and central point, an expression of everything that it wants and produces. E. Cassirer, Die Philosophie der Aufklärung , 1932, Spanish version, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México 1968, pp. 19-20. 14 “The same role that scientific law plays in the world of the spirit will be played by legal law in the world of the State. Just as scientific law begins by dissolving the world of false representations, so too is legal law a solvent, dissolving the world of old medieval states and regional ties, the authority by the grace of God, and the privileges granted by tradition. M. García Pelayo, Derecho Constitucional Comparado , reprint of the 7th edition (1961), Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 1984, p. 70. 15 It is worth recalling here the famous boutade attributed to Napoleon when the first commentary on the Civil Code appeared: “Mon Code est perdu”. Cf. F. Geny, Méthode

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