The Historical Origin of Fundamental Rights

Abstract

Since a merely conceptual approach is insufficient, this article seeks to develop an adequate operational notion of fundamental rights based on descriptive and qualitative elements. To this end, it analyzes how these rights have influenced and, in turn, been shaped by a complex set of semantic and structural transformations. These transformations have reflected, initially, the emergence of constitutionalism and the Constitution in its modern sense, and subsequently, the emancipation of constitutional aspirations from the purely state-centered sphere.