The declaration as public utility by the city councils in provincial legal systems. Can municipalities actually expropiate?

Abstract

In Argentina, municipal autonomy is an issue that has been arousing extensive and profound debates, for some time now. This article addresses in particular the debate about the power of City Councils to declare certain property as public utility and subject to expropiation.

The research begins with an analysis of the guidelines contained in the National Constitution; it extends to the current situation and the existing procedures in local legal systems to continue with the analysis, in particular, of Buenos Aires Province's situation and the problems its legal system presents.

Finally, this article exposes the discrepancies present in the local legal systems regarding the subject under analysis and it emphasizes the convenience of the fact that in Buenos Aires Province the City Councils are granted the power under dispute, in compliance with the concept of municipal autonomy included in the National Constitution of 1994.