Rule of Law, Constitution and Democracy. Some Arguments

In the events of September and October 2017 in Catalonia many voices argued that the vote of citizens should be above the rule of law and the Constitution. The supporters of the independence of Catalonia thus established an opposition between the rule of law and the Constitution, on the one hand, and the democratic principle, on the other. In my presentation I will examine if this opposition can be sustained and if it does not rest on mistaken assumtions or confusions about the rule of law, the sense of the Constitution and the very idea of democracy. In order to carry out this assesment, I will consider the arguments presented in the famous ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada on the question of the secession of Quebec. I will also compare these arguments with some recent rulings by the Spanish Constitutional Court about Catalonia.