In the name of the child. The best interests of the child in the construction of the role of the Supreme Court.

Abstract

The "best interests of the child", a principle enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has become an interpretative and decisional guideline of increasing use by the Supreme Court of Justice. Through a study of the jurisprudence of the High Court during 2012, we analyse here the way in which this principle is used argumentatively, in order to shed light on the process of institutionalisation in which the Supreme Court is engaged. The tensions arising from the construction of legitimacy, as a political-institutional process that the court addresses, explain the different ways in which, depending on the contexts and interests at stake, it resolves disputes involving minors.