A Brief Exploration On The Constitutional Transplant Of Cuba Before The Castro Revolution

Constitutional transplant has long been a focus in the discussion of the jurisprudential circle.Rather than rigidly copying other nations`constitutional articles,it is a systematic behavior having impact on multiple social sectors.As one sort of legal transplant,constitutional transplant shares some similarities and has its own characteristics.This thesis includes five chapters.In the first chapter,basic theories,including the concept,necessity and methods of constitutional transplant are expounded.In the second one,Cuba,a country experiencing a transformation from capitalism to socialism,is selected as an example.Its constitutionalism practices before the revolution launched by Castro are analyzed and sorted out.The interpretation of its early constitutional text shows that they filled the gap of the early constitutional history of Latin America.Though relevant efforts made by Cuba under the influence of American and European constitutional cultures as well as the hegemonic suppression from America in politics,military affairs,economy,etc.brought advanced concepts such as human rights and liberty to its society,which had suffered from colonialism for a long time,they deprived Cuba of its independence and self-determination,gradually reducing the country into America`s dependency that had hardly any capability to govern the society purely for its people`s welfare.Consequently,military government rose and came into power.The third chapter reviews the trade contacts and political relationship between Cuba and America that lasted for several centuries,explaining why Cuba transplanted its constitution from America.Chapter Four elaborates the particularity of constitutional transplant based on Cuba`s history of constitutionalism and modern history development.The last part presented a conclusion that whether foreign constitution articles can be successfully indigenized and play their specific roles should be the standard judging the effect of constitutional transplant,aiming to provide reference for future theoretical development and empirical survey.All in all,this thesis takes constitutional transplant as theoretical basis and the relationship between Cuba and America as a perspective,discusses the fruitful achievements and profound lessons from Cuba`s early constitutional practices.More importantly,based on Cuba`s early constitutional history,this thesis attempts to clarify that in the time of globalization,constitutional transplant is an important approach that a nation can take to achieve constitutional modernization,but all attempts and efforts should be established on a firm foundation of independence and self-reliance.Only in this way can the foreign constitutional cultures be localized and used to seek benefits for its people.