List of Constitutions of Costa Rica
Costa Rica has possessed multiple and very varied constitutional bodies.
The Constitutional Assemblies of Costa Rica have been, in almost all cases, convened after a coup d'état or armed conflict, since it is the custom in Costa Rica that when a government is deposed, an Assembly will be convened to draft a new constitutional body that legitimizes the new regime. This was true from the first Constituent Congress of the State of Costa Rica convened shortly after the independence of Central America until the most recent National Constituent Assembly of 1949, which occurred after the Civil War of 1948.
Constitution | Validity | State |
Cadiz Constitution | 1812-1814 and 1820-1821 | Diputación of the Spanish Empire |
Pact of Concord | 1821-1823 | Province of Costa Rica, at least nominally member of the First Mexican Empire |
First Political Statute of the Province of Costa Rica | 1823 | Province of Costa Rica, at least nominally member of the First Mexican Empire |
Second Political Statute of the Province of Costa Rica | 1823-1824 | Federal Republic of Central America |
Basis of the Federal Constitution | 1823-1824 | Federal Republic of Central America |
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America | 1824-1838 | Federal Republic of Central America |
Fundamental Law of the State of Costa Rica | 1825-1838 | Federal Republic of Central America |
Decree of Basis and Guarantees | 1841-1842 | Free State of Costa Rica |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1844 | 1844-1846 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1847 | 1847-1848 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Reformed Constitution of 1848 | 1848-1859 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1859 | 1859-1868 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1869 | 1869-1870 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1871 | 1871-1876 1882-1917 1919-1949 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1917 | 1917-1919 | First Costa Rican Republic |
Costa Rican Constitution of 1949 | 1949- | Second Costa Rican Republic |