constitutivo

Constitutivo is an adjective used in Spanish and related languages to denote something that creates, establishes, or gives formal legal form to a person, entity, or status. It often refers to acts, documents, or elements that produce an effect or identity rather than merely recognizing one that already exists.

In legal contexts, constitutive language is common in corporate law. An acto constitutivo, escritura constitutiva, or acta constitutiva is the document through which a company or association is created. Such a document typically sets out the entity’s name, purpose, duration, capital, participants or shareholders, and governance rules; upon registration, the entity acquires legal personality. The term is also used in the discussion of “elementos constitutivos” of a contract, crime, or institution, meaning the essential facts or components that, together, produce the legal status or offense. By contrast, theories of law sometimes distinguish constitutive effects (which create rights or status) from declarative effects (which merely acknowledge preexisting rights).

Beyond corporate or criminal law, constitutivo appears in other domains to describe the components that define a system or phenomenon, such as constitutive rules in the philosophy of language or in social theory, or constitutive elements in theoretical models.

Etymology traces constitutivo to Latin constitutus, with agreement in gender and number to the noun it modifies.