‘The universal rhythm of justice’: the Argentine Supreme Court and labor law before, during, and after Peronism

Abstract

The birth of labor law in Argentina is as intricate as it is fascinating. The emergence of a regulatory mosaic in the country occurred in the shadow of extreme institutional instability and ideological change. This process included the country’s first military coup; the rise of J.D. Perón, under whose aegis labor protections gushed; and the fierce backlash against his regime. In this story, the Supreme Court played a somewhat secondary but significant role, which this article, at the intersection of legal history and judicial politics, explores. The article uses an original dataset of 539 Court decisions in labor disputes from 1935 to 1960. It draws on descriptive statistics, a discussion of the main trends in the Court’s decision making, and network analysis. What emerges from the study is a saga of increasing protection of workers’ rights, punctuated by episodic retraction that did not amount to a denial of them. The Court under Perón was prominent in the vindication of workers’ rights. Even under the more restrictive periods before and after Perón, however, the Court recognized labor law as an emerging field for the protection of workers. While the Court’s work displays this combination of oscillation and permanence in its substantive output, it shows a more radical break in a more symbolic respect. After the coup that deposed Perón, the Court was adamant about neglecting the Perón Court’s role and intervention. This shows that legal ideology can manifest itself in diverging ways, particularly in times of regime and judicial instability. It can emerge in justices’ substantive opinions, but also in the recognition of their previous colleagues’ work.