Reflexiones sobre el poder legislativo: un ensayo fundacional de Andrés Bello

This note traces the origins of Andrés Bello's influential essay on the importance of publication of judicial decisions, which appeared in the Chilean periodical El Araucano in 1830. The current research note demonstrates that the essay was originally published in the London periodical El Censor Americano in 1820, although without iden-tifying Bello as the author. Despite the differences between the two versions, due to the different historical moments (the restoration of the Constitution of 1812 after the revolution of 1820 in Spain, and the republican organization of Chile in 1830), this note argues that there is a fundamental thread uniting the two essays, namely, the central im-portance of publishing judicial decisions in any political system, be it a constitutional monarchy, or a republic.