espanolEste articulo estudia los sistemas de control que la administracion publica colombiana tuvo durante el siglo XIX. Para obtener la informacion necesaria, el investigador principal y los estudiantes recurrieron a fuentes exclusivamente documentales. Se consultaron todas las constituciones colombianas de ese siglo y varias obras de apoyo. En esta investigacion se utilizaron basicamente dos metodos: el historico y el comparativo. Las conclusiones mas importantes a las que se llego son: 1a. El imperio de la ley es la razon de ser del control judicial de la administracion. 2a. El dogma de la legalidad es muy antiguo. Platon hizo la sintesis y los revolucionarios de 1789 lo convirtieron en derecho positivo. 3a. Durante todo el siglo XIX el Consejo de Estado no hizo control judicial a la administracion publica. Ese control lo realizo la Corte Suprema de Justicia. 4a. Durante esa misma centuria tambien hicieron control a la administracion publica el Ministerio Publico y el Congreso de la Republica. EnglishThis paper studies the 19th century Colombian civil service control system. In order to attain the required information, the head researcher and the students resorted to exclusively documentary sources. All Colombian 19th century Constitutions and some backing works were consulted. Basically two methods were used in this research: historical and comparative. The most important conclusions reached were as follows: (1) The rule of law is the reason for the judicial control on the civil service. (2) The legal dogma is quite ancient. Plato synthesized it and the 1789 revolutionaries turned it into statute law. (3) In Colombia, throughout the 19th century, the Council of State did not judicially control the civil service. The Supreme Court did. (4) During that century, both the Attorney General�s Office and the Congress exerted control on the civil service.