The legal system of Chile belongs to the Continental Law tradition. The basis for its public law is the 1980 Constitution, reformed in 1989 and 2005. According to it Chile is a democratic republic. There is a clear separation of functions, between the President of the Republic, the Congress, the judiciary and a Constitutional Court. See Politics of Chile. On the other hand, private relationships are governed, mainly, by the Chilean Civil Code, most of which has not been amended in 150 years. There are also several laws outside the Code that deal with most of the business law.
Public law
Constitution
The current Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile, approved by Chilean voters in a tightly controlled plebiscite on September 11, 1980, under Augusto Pinochet, and made effective on March 11, 1981, has been amended in 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005.
In 2005 over 50 reforms were approved, which eliminated some of the remaining undemocratic areas of the text, such as the existence of non-elected Senators (appointed senators, or senators for life) and the inability of the President to remove the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. These reforms led the President to controversially declare Chile's transition to democracy as complete.
There is a constitutional court (Tribunal Constitucional) with the competence to declare a singular law "not applicable" to an individual case (inaplicabilidad por inconstitucionalidad) and, having declared that at least once, the unconstitutionality of that law in general.
Administrative law
The President of the Republic must fulfill the administrative function, in collaboration with several ministries or other authorities with ministerial rank. Each Ministry has one or more sub secretaries. The actual satisfaction of public needs is performed through public services, dependant or at least related to one of those sub secretaries.
All Ministries and public services have a body of workers or administrative personnel (funcionarios públicos).
Public property is subject to privileges and burdens, because it serves public purposes. The sea, rivers and lakes, mines and natural reservations belong to the state and may be used by "anyone", but when individual exploitation is possible then it is in the hands of privates. On the other hand, buildings, cars and other supplies that are necessary for the work of public agencies are also property of the state.
Public entities act through administrative procedures, that is, processes with formal stages where opportunities to deliver evidence and exercise appeals are granted to the citizens. The recent basic law of administrative procedures deals with most of the general matters pertaining the administrative procedures of all public entities.
There is not a singular administrative court to deal with actions against the administrative entities, but several specialized courts and procedures of review. However, civil courts have jurisdiction over all matters that are not in the scope of other tribunal, such as public liability and the overturn of single administrative acts.
Regulation
Since the privatization of most economic activities in the 1980s, the President and the independent agencies became the main policy makers regarding the regulation of the economy, subordinated to legislation.
The exploitation of mines and water resources is given in concession to private entrepreneurs.
All activities that can have a significant impact on the environment must obtain an administrative authorization and are subject to local regulation by the corresponding agencies.
There are agencies (Superintendencias) dealing with: Electricity and Fuels (Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles, SEC), Water Supply and Treatment (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios, SISS), Banking and Finance, Stock Exchange and Insurances (Comisión para el Mercado Financiero, CMF) CMF was created by merging of former agencies: Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras, SBIF and Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros, SVS. Casinos (Superintendencia de Casinos de Juegos, SCJ) Bankruptcy (Superintendencia de Insolvencia y Reemprendimiento, SIR), Environmental Protection (Superintendencia de Medio Ambiente, SMA), Pensions and Retirement Funds (Superintendencia de Pensiones, SP), Social Security (Superintendencia de Seguridad Social, SUSESO), Health (Superintendencia de Salud), Education (Superintendenica de Educación), etc.