Hispanic period Before and after 1810, until the initiation of the codification of criminal law with the Tejedor Project, the exclusive source of the repressive legislation in force in the territory of the Río de la Plata, which for the most part became the United Provinces and then that of the Argentine Republic, were the Spanish penal laws prior to the Penal Code of 1822.
He thus acknowledged, in an express way, the double source of common criminal law existing at that time in the country.
The Tejedor Project was not sanctioned as a national code, but by virtue of the authorization granted by art.
108 of the National Constitution, was adopted as a criminal code by eleven provinces, with some modifications made in Buenos Aires.
The first Penal Code for the Nation (Law 1920 - 07-12-1886) was sanctioned by Congress on the basis of the Tejedor project and came into force on February 1, 1887.
In addition to reviewing the list of crimes of the 1886 Code, it filled its gaps regarding the application of criminal law in space.
This Project presented the preponderant contribution of the Italian codes of 1889, Hungarian of 1878, Dutch of 1881 and Belgian of 1867, which contained the latest and best criminal legislation.
The 1891 Project, which only obtained a favorable opinion from the Committee of Deputies, served as the basis for the reforms introduced in the 1886 Code by Law 4,189 (09/21/1903).
1906 reform project Faced with the situation described above, the Executive Power ordered the revision of the 1886 Code by a commission formed, in addition to Piñero and Rivarola, drafters of the 1891 Project, by F. Beagley, D. Saavedra, Moyano Gacitúa and Ramos Mejía (09 -12-1904).
The Project that is denominated of 1906, and was presented to the National Executive Power, on March 10 of that year and sent to the Congress on September 1, follows the orientation of 1891.
It was criticized by the positivist sector, "because it makes a clean slate of the crimes of the advances produced in criminal law during the twentieth century.
The 1917 Project, which was subject to reforms in the Senate that did not alter its structure, was sanctioned as a Criminal Code on September 30, 1921.
Incorporated into positive law institutions such as: probation and conditional condemnation, the measures applicable to those charged, minors and recidivists, as well as the extenuating and aggravating of the penalty.
Finally there are the Soler Project of 1979 (Soler - Aguirre Cabral and Rizzi) and the one that in 1994 propitiated the Executive Power, on the basis of the innovations suggested by Professor Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni in his preliminary draft of reforms submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Nation on August 15, 1991.