reforma demolitoria

English translation: deleterious reform

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:reforma demolitoria
English translation:deleterious reform
Entered by: Daniel Coria

16:52 Nov 2, 2019
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law: Contract(s)
Spanish term or phrase: reforma demolitoria
Hello, I'm not sure what ***demolitoria*** means as it appears in quotation marks. Would "demolition" reforms be wrong?
A la Constitución aprobada por el Congreso Constituyente de 1917 en Querétaro, se le han hecho hasta ahora dos clases de reformas: unas reformas conservatorias, las que mantienen y respetan las decisiones políticas fundamentales proclamadas por dicho Congreso Constituyente, y otras reformas ***"demolitorias"***, las que niegan y destruyen esas decisiones políticas fundamentales sancionadas por el mismo Congreso Constituyente.
Alejandra Garza
Mexico
Local time: 04:56
deleterious reform(s)
Explanation:
Used when reforms are implemented to destroy rather than to preserve or develop.

And yet regional policy and governance, against a backdrop of austerity politics, has on occasion demonstrated a capacity to absorb deleterious reforms and ...
https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=d6g0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1997&...

The later emperors cared more about mere survival than about imperial welfare at large, which led to deleterious reforms. Senators were excluded from military ...
https://www.unrv.com/book-review/how-rome-fell.php

unnecessary and deleterious reforms based on specious and myopic reasoning. Arguably, much of the existing problems are related to the ...
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/183739/CO...

Hope it helps!
Selected response from:

Daniel Coria
Argentina
Local time: 07:56
Grading comment
Thanks! Yes, this is the term I was looking for because it's not as literal. The word "demolitoria" per se is in quotation marks, so the term does not exist as such.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4deleterious reform(s)
Daniel Coria
4destructive reform = (constitutional) reform aiming at quashing fundamental principles/rights
Toni Castano
3abrogative reform
Marco Belcastro Bara
3iconoclastic reform
Adrian MM.


  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
abrogative reform


Explanation:
abrogative reform

Marco Belcastro Bara
Italy
Local time: 11:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
iconoclastic reform


Explanation:
Used in the ST, methinks, in a figurative ir metaphorical sense, rather than a strictly legalistic one.


Example sentence(s):
  • These fragments of the "province of Italy," as it was when reconquered by Justinian, were almost all lost either to the Lombards ......who separated from the empire on account of the iconoclastic reforms.

    Reference: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/iconoc...
Adrian MM.
Austria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 278
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
deleterious reform(s)


Explanation:
Used when reforms are implemented to destroy rather than to preserve or develop.

And yet regional policy and governance, against a backdrop of austerity politics, has on occasion demonstrated a capacity to absorb deleterious reforms and ...
https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=d6g0DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1997&...

The later emperors cared more about mere survival than about imperial welfare at large, which led to deleterious reforms. Senators were excluded from military ...
https://www.unrv.com/book-review/how-rome-fell.php

unnecessary and deleterious reforms based on specious and myopic reasoning. Arguably, much of the existing problems are related to the ...
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/183739/CO...

Hope it helps!

Daniel Coria
Argentina
Local time: 07:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 155
Grading comment
Thanks! Yes, this is the term I was looking for because it's not as literal. The word "demolitoria" per se is in quotation marks, so the term does not exist as such.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
destructive reform = (constitutional) reform aiming at quashing fundamental principles/rights


Explanation:
In your text: “restrained/moderate reform” (reforma conservatoria) versus “destructive reform” (reforma demolitoria).
Explanation:
The first thing that springs to mind after reading “demolitorio” has to do with the origin of this word and its meaning. The adjective “demolitorio” just sounds weird and unnatural in Spanish (same as “conservatorio”, by the way). The RAE dictionary does not include it in its corpus, this word simply does not exist in Spanish (therefore perhaps the quotation marks here), but, hey, it does in Portuguese, namely with the legal meaning of “ordering the destruction of something” (“que ordena a destruição”). It is then obvious that the Mexican jurist Ramón Sánchez Medal, the person I believe coined the term in Mexico, was using an unusual, well, say openly, foreign word in Spanish when he wrote his book “El fraude a la Constitución: y el único amparo en México contra una reforma demolitoria de la Constitución”. Perhaps “demolitorio” is used in Mexico in scholars´ circles, I don´t know, but the fact that you are asking about its meaning clearly points out that it is a strange word, also for Mexicans.

So “demolitorio” just means “de demolición/destrucción/destructivo” But what is the relationship of this word with the constitutional situation in Mexico? The Mexican scholar Ramón Sánchez Medal is quoted in the following reference explaining the meaning of “demolitorio” in this context:

http://montanezyasociados.com.mx/inv-jud-guardia-nacional-1/
EL RIESGO DE REFORMAS A LA CONSTITUCIÓN QUE PUDIERAN SER INCONGRUENTES A SUS PRINCIPIOS ORIGINALES
(…)
Raúl Gonzales Small, citando a Ramón Sánchez Medal apuntala la idea de que existen en toda Constitución principios de tal trascendencia que no es posible que se encuentren sujetos a contradicción o modificación por parte de poder alguno, explica éste aspecto que concibe como contranatural, es decir, que la Constitución no puede ir en contra de su misma naturaleza o mejor dicho de su génesis original en la que pensaron los constituyentes de origen como los pilares de la nación, así efectúa su exposición al respecto:
Ramón Sánchez Medal, en su estudio intitulado Las reformas demolitorias de la Constitución, sostiene que por encima de la “vorágine de cambios legislativos, es indudable que deben existir principios de tal solidez y trascendencia que no puedan ser modificados, debiendo considerarse como el más importante la salvaguarda de la libertad del individuo”. Consecuentemente – señala Sánchez Medal – el argumento de que cualquier reforma de la Constitución con sujeción al procedimiento formal del artículo 135, hace que tal reforma sea ya parte integrante de la propia Constitución, y no pueda la Constitución ir contra ella misma, es un razonamiento mutilante e insostenible” [13]


Hence, the meaning of “demolitorio” is something like “quashing”, “destroying”, in this particular case referred to constitutional fundamental principles such as the freedom of individuals.

This reference explains the meaning of “demolitorio” and quotes the term together with “destructor” as its synonym (reformas demolitorias o destructoras”):
http://biblio.upmx.mx/tesis/121944.pdf
“LA DEFENSA DEL NÚCLEO INTANGIBLE DE LA CONSTITUCIÓN”
LA NECESIDAD DE LIMITAR AL PODER CONSTITUYENTE CONSTITUIDO
MÉXICO, D.F. 2010

d.3) La revolución como derecho: otro dejo de resignación.
Si aceptáremos partir de la base que el Poder constituyente permanente no posee límite alguno al momento de reformar la Constitución, bien podríamos preguntarnos lo siguiente: ¿qué medio de defensa tendrían a la mano los ciudadanos y las propias instituciones públicas, si por cualquier circunstancia, el Poder revisor de la Constitución aprobase una reforma que trastocara el régimen de gobierno republicano, o bien, que de manera expresa y sin vacilaciones, restringiera o eliminara alguno de los derechos fundamentales ya reconocidos por la Constitución?
A reformas con tales objetivos, Sánchez Medal las denominó reformas demolitorias o reformas destructoras de garantías individuales.

¿Tales reformas serían acordes con el constitucionalismo?, ¿sería constitucional que ante actos de los poderes constituidos (como lo es el Poder revisor) no exista medio de defensa alguno?, ¿los ciudadanos y los líderes políticos quedarían atónitos ante dicha realidad?
Si partimos por aceptar que el Poder reformador de la Constitución es ilimitado, como lo han hecho muchos teóricos, tendríamos que arribar a la conclusión de que la única opción, ante una reforma demolitoria o destructora de garantías individuales, sería la movilización revolucionaria.



Toni Castano
Spain
Local time: 11:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 32
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, and yes, I'm translating Mr. Sánchez Medal's book.

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