Germán Bidart Campos (Argentina, 1927 2004)

Abstract

This contribution presents Professor Germán José Bidart Campos, one of the great Latin American jurists, without a shadow of doubt. A towering figure of Argentine Constitutional Law, Bidart Campos was simultaneously a legal scholar at large: although he wrote mostly on public law matters he was learned about every single area of law and his papers deal with all sorts of issues. This article offers an overview of Bidart Campos´ work, focusing on his legal contributions in the light of Christian views; but it will cover aswell his far reaching additions to fields such as the social doctrine of the Church. Even poetry was part of the scope of his work and that features too here.Bidart (as he was usually called in Argentina) was at the same time a conscientious Christian. His religious beliefs, nevertheless, were ocassionally in tension with some of the policy positions he adopted, especially in his later years. This article attempts to prove that, notwithstanding that tension, Bidart Campos persevered to the end in reconciling constitutional conviction with Catholic dogma.