espanolConstitucionalismo y Estado de Derecho se erigen como una barrera infranqueable, que protege a los individuos del ejercicio arbitrario del poder publico; actualmente estas realidades gozan de general aceptacion en el mundo, asi como tambien uno de sus elementos identifi cadores capitales que es la justicia constitucional. Sin embargo, el comienzo de esta ultima suele ser un fenomeno poco estudiado, o cuando mucho se le asocia con la famosisima decision emitida por la Corte Suprema estadounidense en Marbury vs. Madison. Al explorar el concepto de constitucion – y de sus rasgos como norma fundamental, superior y suprema – y su arraigo en la cultura juridico-politica anglosajona, el presente articulo plantea una aproximacion diferente a los origenes del control constitucional: que como principio sostenedor del Estado de Derecho, el control constitucional no aparecio subitamente en una sentencia, sino que hace parte de una larga tradicion, confirmada luego por la judicatura norteamericana durante las tres decadas antecedentes a la famosa decision. EnglishBoth constitutionalism and the Rule of Law rise as an insurmountable barrier protecting citizens from the arbitrary exercise of public power. Nowadays, these realities are worldwide accepted, as well as one of their pivotal identifying elements known as constitutional justice. The beginning of the latter, however, is usually a not well studied phenomenon or at most, it is often related to the famous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Marbury v. Madison. While exploring the concept of constitution –and its characteristics as a fundamental , supreme and superior law- and its roots in the legal-political constitutional Anglo-Saxon culture, this article poses a different approach to the origins of constitutional control: that as a supporting principle of thej Rule of Law, did, constitutional control did not appear suddenly in a sentence, but rather it is part of a long tradition which was later confirmed by the American judiciary through the three decades previous to the famous decision.