History of Spanish constitutionalism

Cadiz: Detail of the Monument to the Courts of Cadiz.

The history of Spanish constitutionalism is a direct reflection of the Spanish political convulsions of the 19th and 20th centuries, showing the social and political tensions that existed in the country.

Bayonne Statute of 1808

The crisis of the Old Absolutist Regime worsened in 1808, producing the Mutiny of Aranjuez against Godoy and King Carlos IV of Spain himself. He abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand VII of Spain, but before consolidating power, Napoleon makes them go to Bayonne under the pretext of arbitrating his family disputes. Napoleon makes father and son abdicate in favor of his brother Joseph Bonaparte. Avoiding the appearance of a usurper, Napoleon convened an assembly of deputies in Bayonne, to which he presented a text of the Constitution, promulgated on July 8, 1808.

The Bayonne assembly should have been made up of fifty nobles, fifty clergymen and fifty representatives of the people, but only sixty-five people attended, most of them nobles, to which were added some Spaniards residing in France. The assembly was chaired by Miguel José de Azanza, discussed various problems and approved the draft Constitution presented by Napoleon on July 7, 1807. It had been drafted by M. Esmenard, a Frenchman living in Spain, and was reviewed by General Joaquín Murat and the same emperor.

It organized Spain as a hereditary monarchy in which the monarch occupied the center of political power, but with the obligation to respect the rights of citizens proclaimed in its text.

It was born in a complex context, dictated outside the national territory and with a markedly French character, sponsored by moderate liberals. Due to the fact that it was not elaborated by the representatives of the Nation, due to its origin and process it cannot be considered a Constitution, but a Charter granted.

It opens with the confessional definition of the State, to then deal with everything related to the Crown and, in later titles, addresses the institutional framework, ending with a disorderly recognition of certain rights and freedoms. Despite establishing a set of institutions, one cannot speak of a division of powers: the monarch's powers were very broad, the Cortes were structured around estate representation and the powers of the Senate and the Cortes themselves lacked the force to bind. Even so, due to the historical context, this design could not be developed.

The statute of Bayonne contains the elements of a political and social reform, aimed at developing trade, diminishing the power bases of the nobility and empowering the bourgeoisie. They can be highlighted:

• Freedom of industry and trade (arts. 88 and 89)
• Removing commercial privileges (art. 90)
• Equality of the colonies with the metropolis (art. 87)
• Deletion of internal customs (art. 116)

Regarding rights and freedoms, it is worth noting the confessional nature attributed to Spain:

Article 1 stated that “The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion, in Spain and in all Spanish possessions, will be the religion of the King and the Nation and no other will be allowed.”

A last title contemplates (general provisions) a series of rights and freedoms. The influence of the French Revolution was important: rights from the beginnings of bourgeois liberalism were regulated, which was an advance on the existing situation.

The Crown

The Statute provided for a predominant role for the monarch, although his personal status and prerogatives were not clearly stated. However, from the functional scope of the institutions, the extensive powers of the King are revealed. The importance is observed in its location (after religion) and that he dedicates 4 of the 13 titles to it.

The Society

They also had no effective life. It was structured in 3 estates (high clergy, nobility and people), where a clear influence of the Old Regime was noticed, as well as a contradiction with the inspiring principles of the Revolution. The legislative function was not expressly conferred on them, although it was tacitly granted in some precepts.

Government and Administration

I was unaware of the government institution. He contemplated a title to the ministries in which he establishes a number (7-9) and their denomination. The ministers were responsible for the execution of the king's laws and orders. It also regulates the Treasury Administration, which advocates the abolition of internal customs, separates the public Treasury from that of the Crown, and sets up an Accounting Court to examine and approve the accounts.

Council of State

Body that grouped scattered functions of the Old Regime and put an end to the polysynody in which normative functions were confused with other executive and judicial ones. It had the power to examine and extend the draft civil and criminal laws and the general regulations of the Administration. Its functions should not be confused with those of the current Council of State, merely advisory.

Judicial branch

It was critically important. It was configured as independent, although the king appointed all the judges. It was articulated in different instances to which citizens could turn, the publicity of the criminal process was established and the creation of a single code of civil and criminal laws and another of commerce for Spain and the Indies was summoned, in order to rationalize the chaotic regulatory system at the time.

Spanish Constitution of 1812

The departure of Ferdinand VII and the invading French presence caused a power vacuum in 1808. The war had begun and the capitulations of the monarchs before Napoleon increased the feeling of emptiness. Faced with the collapse of the Administration, the resistance is structured through provincial and local boards that represent a true parallel power, a fact that would lead to monarchical legitimacy giving way to popularity.

Faced with this plurality of centers of power, the Central Board is created, which will proceed to the convocation of Cortes (non-estate) that will become constituents: on September 24, 1810, the Cortes of Cádiz were constituted and the same day they were approved a Decree in which the basic principles of the future constitutional text appear: national sovereignty and the division of powers.

They were formed by an amalgamation of interests: despite the marked liberal seal of the Cortes, there was a presence of absolutist and reactionary currents together with reformist or radical deputies. Even part of the conservative deputies would end up promulgating a manifesto in which they asked Fernando VII to abolish the Constitution on his return (Manifesto of the Persians). Even so, the Constitution will have a compromise character between the liberal and absolutist options. It was promulgated by the Spanish General Courts meeting extraordinarily in Cádiz on March 19, 1812.

By Decree of May 4, 1814, Fernando VII repealed the Constitution of 1812 and all the provisions dictated in its development, and from that date those of the Old Absolutist Regime were reestablished (although, as some author affirms, under the promise to write a new Constitution). Later it was applied again from March 8, 1820, when in Madrid (Spain), Fernando VII was forced to swear the Spanish Constitution of 1812, being in force during the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823).

Characteristics of the Constitution of 1812

• The Constitution will play an important role as a symbol of nineteenth-century constitutionalism: it represents the banner of Spanish liberalism for decades in front of absolutist positions.
• Despite its symbolism, its validity was very small and intermittent: it was in force only six years and in different periods:
  • From 1812 to 1814 (returns Fernando VII and derogates the text).
  • In 1820 (starting the liberal triennium) to 1823, Fernando VII returned with the 100,000 children of San Luis.
  • From 1836 to 1837 (when a new constitution is promulgated).
• It suffers from an enormous extension of articles (384), the most extensive of constitutionalism. In addition, it regulated certain topics with a comprehensive character (such as the case of the electoral system that constitutes practically an electoral law within the Constitution). It is because he doubted the reactions of the monarch to a text that limited his power and, on the other hand, the prevailing rationalism.
• This distrust was shown in the reform clauses that made it a super-rigid constitution: such were the obstacles that were approaching intangibility clauses, vg.: 375 stated that the reform could not be carried out until eight years of practice in all its parts.
• Regarding influences, he was inspired by the tradition of the old fundamental laws of the Kingdom ^{[chuckles]required]} (although their dictates meant a break with the principles of the Old Regime), but mainly in the Bayonne Statute, in the French Constitution of 1791 and the American Constitution of 1787.

Inspiring principles

• National sovereignty is reflected in article 3, noting that sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation and, therefore, belongs to it exclusively. This appeal had already been made in the Decree of 1810 in determining that the previous identification between King and State would not be literally broken by recognizing the Constitution the sovereignty of a new subject, as was the Nation.
• The division of powers, with a series of peculiarities, to mention the three classic powers, but more than a division is a strict separation. They barely had channels of communication between themselves. The only thing that a timid collaboration was warned was in the exercise of the legislative power between the Cortes and the king.
• Representivity: rupture with the old imperative mandate, as the deputies are representatives of the nation, excluding the parties that chose it.

Rights and duties of citizens

The Constitution lacks a specific title, but throughout the text different rights are collected in a scattered way.

On the one hand, article 12 (the religion of the Spanish nation is and will be perpetually the Roman Catholic Apostolic, and the nation protects it by wise and just laws and prohibits the exercise of any other) is confessional and strictly confessional, by imposing one religion and prohibiting the rest. It is therefore, a sensu contrario, the denial of religious freedom.

The rights recognized and disseminated by the text reproduced the bourgeois individual rights imported from the French Revolution, thus, Article 4 speaks of civil liberty, property and other legitimate rights (open clause).

Equality seems to be enunciated in a less emphatic way than in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, the existence of a single jurisdiction for all classes of people in civil and criminal cases was formulated and active suffrage was recognized. There was freedom of expression (except in religious writings).

Guarantees were articulated in arrests and judicial processes: prohibition of torture, personal and domiciliary inviolability, habeas corpus, to be informed of the causes, among others. A specific title was dedicated to public instruction, giving importance to education and recognizing public instruction for all citizens.

Political Institutions

Parliament

It was unicameral to avoid mediation between the representatives of the sovereign and the king, thus avoiding a second chamber of aristocrats chosen by the king. The election process was regulated in great detail, through indirect suffrage in four degrees: the first election was almost universal (males of legal age) and then gradually became more restricted as it moved towards passive census suffrage.

The legislature was of two years and governed the principle of automaticity of the convocation, since it did not depend on the royal will, they met every year for three months and extraordinary sessions were foreseen. In addition, there was a Permanent Delegation that watched over the powers of the Chamber when it was not in session.

The sessions, unless otherwise provided, were public. They had the power to create their Regulations for organization and internal operation, and the inviolability of the deputies in their opinions and in the exercise of their functions was established, and immunity in criminal cases against them, which had to be judged by a Court of the Cortes.

He exercised the legislative power together with the king, since the initiative was attributed to him and to the individual deputy. He also had financial authority as long as he set the expenses of the Administration and approved the distribution of contributions.

King and Council of State

The figure of the King was regulated as a constitutional body that had limited powers (constituted power) to the extent that it shared political power with other institutions (above all, the Cortes). Article 172 highlights a large number of matters in which he could not intervene. Of its functions, it is worth highlighting the legislative one through 2 instruments: 1) legislative initiative and 2) the sanction and promulgation of laws, as well as the possibility of interposing a temporary suspensive veto under certain conditions.

The executive power rests with the king, as he has jurisdiction over the direction of domestic and foreign policy, exercise of the executive function and regulatory power (in matters not attributed to the Cortes) and defense. In essence, similar to those exercised today by the Government. The figure of the King was inviolable and not subject to responsibility, articulated in the constitutional text the figure of the referendum.

The existence of a Council of State was foreseen, whose members were appointed by the King at the proposal of the Cortes, who advised the King and had no jurisdictional function (unlike the Statute of Bayonne). Their opinions were not binding.

The king had the current power to create spatial regulations for the public development of the state of direct parliamentary ties.

State and Office Secretaries

Appointed and separated by the king, establishing a position incompatible with that of deputy (rigid separation of powers). The Constitution did not contemplate the Government as a collegiate body. However, the practice led to the existence of the government body (meeting of secretaries) chaired by the king and, by Decree of 1824, by the president of the Council of Ministers in his absence. This president was configured as a primus inter pares who directed the sessions when the figure of the king was not present.

Territorial organization

The integration of the State in counties and provinces with some incipient decentralization of an administrative nature was recognized. The government was articulated through Provincial Councils and City Councils and the figure of the Superior Chief was foreseen, appointed by the king, to whom the political government of the provinces and presidency of the City Councils (where there were any) was conferred. It is an exception to the elective principle, interference of the central power in local institutions and a precedent for the institution of the civil Governor.

Royal Statute of 1834

Once the death of Ferdinand VII occurred in 1833, the state machinery was in the hands of the liberals. The will granted Isabel II as successor and named María Cristina, wife of the King, Queen Governor. During the monarch's illness and in the face of Carlist claims, the Crown allied with the liberals, granting a broad amnesty and initiated a moderate reformism that ran into Carlist opposition (partly for socioeconomic reasons and the foral issue).

The claim to open the political system to the participation of moderate liberals will be done through the elaboration of a norm (Statute) with a transitory vocation. After the reform of Cea Bermúdez failed, the Regent (in 1834) entrusted the formation of the Government to Martínez de la Rosa who, together with Garelly and Javier de Burgos, will be the author of the Royal Statute (which will be sanctioned on April 10 of that same year).

Characteristics of the Royal Statute

1. It is a bridge between the crisis of the Old Regime and the beginning of the Liberal State. It calls for an almost absolute strengthening of the power of the King, based on the traditional laws of the Kingdom to proceed with the call of the General Courts.
2. It is not a Constitution in a strict sense, but a Granted Charter: There is no constituent power and the qualification of “real” warns of its origin. The Charter granted implies that the Monarch, by virtue of its sovereign power, derives from certain powers that transfer to other organs. (TOMÁS VILLAROYA)
3. Content is of an incomplete text: very brief extension (50 articles vs 384 of the 1812) Constitution, did not contemplate any regulation of rights, only regulated the Courts and their relations with the king, but contained no specific title on the king, the Regency or the Ministers, making only isolated references along the text.
4. In addition, it was established that the Courts would be bicameral composed of a Proceres stationappointed by the monarch himself, and a For eligible.

Inspiring principles

1. As a Charter granted, sovereignty is situated in the king, although limited powers were recognized to the Courts. It is even possible to speak of shared sovereignty, but the figure of the King suffers hardly any limitations of importance, providing executive powers, as well as most legislative resorts (legislative initiative and veto law).
2. It does not establish the principle of separation of powers, nor does it mention the judiciary. There is a position dependent on the legislature and a supremacy of the executive (personalized in the king) that can interfere with the activity of the Courts. In any case, a collaborative intervention was envisaged in the powers related to the Courts (convocation, suspension and dissolution) and the compatibility between the position of minister and the status of parliamentarian.
3. Constitution flexible as it does not provide for any specific clause for its reform that can be carried out through the regular legislative procedure.
4. A regime of an oligarchical nature is established: the electoral body does not reach 1%. Thought to maintain the privileges of the Crown and a minority.

Institutional bodies

The Courts

They are bicameral (they will not be unicameral again until 1931) formed by: Estate of Próceres (upper house) and Estate of Attorneys (lower house). It is reminiscent of the Old Regime: the Próceres are social aristocrats divided between the Grandees of Spain and those chosen by the king. They were lifetime positions, of an indeterminate number, thereby guaranteeing sufficient majorities to the monarchy. The Attorneys, was based on the elective principle of its members but required a high income (census suffrage).

The Statute did not contemplate the electoral system and referred to later laws of different signs: the first (1834) was for indirect suffrage and census and the second (1836) system of direct election and suffrage by census and capacity. They were halfway between a consultative and a legislative assembly. They did not have self-regulatory capacity, since the Regulations of both Chambers had to be approved by the Queen Governor with the prior opinion of the Council of Government and Ministers. In addition, constant interference from the King in the functioning of the Cortes was foreseen, which impedes the principle of parliamentary autonomy, being reduced to a body of collaboration and consultation of the monarch.

The laws required the approval of the 2 chambers and the subsequent royal sanction, implicitly recognizing the King's absolute veto power. They did not have automatic summons, since it was the king who summoned, suspended or dissolved them.

The King

He was granted an exorbitant set of powers:

1. Monopoly of the legislative initiative.
2. It called, suspended or dissolved the General Courts.
3. It sanctioned laws with the ultimate possibility of exercising the right of veto.
4. I named Proceres unlimitedly.
5. He elected President and Vice-President of the Stations.
6. He appointed and ceased the President of the Council of Ministers and Cabinet members.

The Government

Undoubtedly, the constitutionalization of the figure of the President of the Council of Ministers in various passages is important. Although he only occasionally talks about the Government, the rest of the references are addressed to the Council of Ministers. It also includes the name of minister as opposed to that of Secretary of State and Office (inherited from the time of Felipe V). An incipient proto-system of parliamentarism appeared as it required double trust (King and Courts) to govern and the appearance of the so-called cabinet question or confidence question.

Spanish Constitution of 1837

The system of the Royal Statute remained in force until 1836, when the Royal Guard of La Granja imposed on the Queen Regent the reestablishment of the 1812 Constitution and the convocation of a Constituent Parliament. However, given the obvious political impossibility of restoring the Constitution of 1812, the progressives decided to reform it into a new text that would be assimilated by both progressives and moderates, being the first serious attempt of Spanish constitutionalism to establish a consensual Constitution, in a peak moment of the civil war in order to show, both internally and externally -many countries did not forget the European chaos that brought about the reestablishment of the Cadiz norm- a united liberal front against Carlism.

For this reason, the progressives made important concessions in order to get the moderates to support the new norm:

• It renounces the declaration of national sovereignty in the articulate (but it will remain in the preamble).
• It establishes a division of powers more in line with a constitutional monarchical regime of the time, with a greater margin of manoeuvre for the Crown:
  • It would have the executive power.
  • He would have the right to veto over court laws.
  • It would have the power to dissolve the Courts and convene new elections.
• Bicameral Courts are established:
  • The Congress of Deputies would be completely elected by direct suffrage, with a term not exceeding 3 years.
  • The Senate would be mixed, by combining the election with the regio appointment: the senators would be appointed by the king on a triple list of the electors of each province. Every time Congress was elected, either by term of office or by dissolution, the third part of the Senate would be renewed.
  • It did not allude to electoral legislation, eliminating the rule of the Constitution of 1812. In this way, any type of suffrage could be articulated without undermining the constitutional norm (the subsequent electoral law introduced a census suffrage for which only the Spaniards who paid taxes on the Public Treasury for a minimum value of 200 reals could vote).

However, certain progressive creeds were also included, such as the popular election of City Councils and Provincial Councils, and the reestablishment of the National Militia.

In the religious aspect, a consensus agreement is reached: the State declares itself non-denominational, admitting freedom of religion, but commits itself in a special way to the Catholic Church, paying for the expenses of "cult and clergy" as compensation for the confiscation of their assets.

The National Militia is maintained.

Municipalities will be governed by mayors elected by the people.

Spanish Constitution of 1845

After the tumultuous regencies of the Queen Regent and General Espartero, the Senate is dissolved, Queen Elizabeth II is proclaimed to be of age, and new elections to Cortes are called, with the victory of the moderates led by the general Narváez, who decided to reform the current Constitution for another one more in line with their ideas -despite the progressive opposition and some moderate sectors, who defended the 1837 norm because it had been the result of political consensus and that it would serve them to alternate in power without having to change the Constitution every time the government is changed.

Therefore, the resulting text was not a simple reform of the previous one -although it was the only Spanish Constitution that emerged from the reform procedure stipulated in the previous Constitution-, but it established very important changes:

• Replace the principle of national sovereignty (which appeared in the preamble to the 1837 rule) with the principle of shared sovereignty between the king and the Courts. In this way, the powers of the executive branch would be increased, establishing that the legislature resides in the Courts with the king.
• The courts, as the legislative and representative power of the nation, are made up of two chambers:

-The Senate, royally appointed and for life.

-The Congress of Deputies, elected by census suffrage (very restricted to 1% of voters).

• The term of office of deputies extends from three to five years.
• The suppression of the National Militia.
• Modification of the election of municipal authorities (to be appointed by the Government or by provincial authorities) and provincial authorities.
• The judiciary was renamed the Administration of Justice, disappearing the constitutional mandate to the legislator to establish jury trial for all kinds of crimes, as well as the mandate to establish the unit of courts.
• State officiality of the Catholic religion is enhanced.
• The regime of freedoms is similar to that of 1837, although press freedoms, political association and assembly are limited.
• The mayors, as executive agents of central power in the municipalities, will be appointed by the Provincial Governor, who in turn will be appointed by the Government.

Constitutional project of 1852

During the Moderate Decade (1844-1854) the Revolution of 1848 took place, constitutional guarantees were suspended in order to prevent the spread of the European revolutionary wave in Spain. Taking advantage of this context and after managing to sign a new concordat, in 1852 the ultramontane moderate Juan Bravo Murillo, the then Spanish prime minister, drew up a constitutional project in 1852 whose objective was to return to regulations more in line with the Old Regime or to a system based on a Charter granted similar to the repealed Royal Statute of 1834, with the intention of attracting the sectors most prone to Carlism.

However, the opposition to the new constitutional project was of such a nature, both among the moderates and in the other parties, that it could not prosper in any way.

Unpromulgated Constitution of 1856

This unborn constitution arose as a product of the progressive Biennium begun in 1854, which ended with the Moderate Decade.

Its content absolutely reaffirmed the principle of national sovereignty, so that nothing is taken for granted and all institutions, including the Crown, would find their foundation in the national will. Political rights were also widely recognized and, for the first time in Spain, a regime of religious tolerance was installed. Direct census suffrage continued to be maintained, although the Senate would once again be elective. In addition, the Permanent Deputation of the Cortes, whose function was to ensure compliance with the Constitution when the Cortes were closed, was also restored, as was the case with the 1812 Constitution. It is a somewhat rigid constitution; since it establishes a difficult reform procedure; procedure that was partly followed by the rest of the constitutions that were promulgated later.

However, this constitutional project did not end up being promulgated after the counterrevolution of 1856, led by General O'Donnell.

Spanish Constitution of 1869

After the Court fled to France, supreme power was entrusted to General Serrano, who convened Constituent Courts that drew up a new constitutional text.

This was a democratic constitution that was in force until 1873. Sovereignty was national and power was divided: the legislative power was held by the courts, the executive power resided in the king, and the judicial power in the courts. The Catholic religion was continued as the official state religion, although the text guaranteed the exercise of any other, in public or private, in its article 21. Universal male suffrage.

Project of the Federal Constitution of 1873

Drafted during the First Republic that was not promulgated, which defined Spain as a Federal Republic, made up of seventeen States, which gave themselves their own Constitution and which would have legislative, executive and judicial bodies, according to a system of division of powers between the Federation and the Member States. However, the impossibility of reaching an agreement to articulate the functioning of the States within the federation, prevented the project from coming to a successful end.

Spanish Constitution of 1876

After General Pavía's coup in January 1874, no political group was able to offer a stable government formula. Faced with this situation, the future Alfonso XII, from England, addressed the Spanish through what is known as the Sandhurst Manifesto, offering to govern under the formula of liberal monarchy. General Martínez Campos carried out the Pronouncement of Sagunto in December 1874, which would put an end to the First Republic and give rise to the Constitution of 1876.

The new Magna Carta would propose Alfonso de Borbón, son of the dethroned Isabel II of Spain as head of state with certain prerogatives —for example, shared sovereignty or royal veto. Although initially she was in favor of census suffrage, the Constitution of 1876 was reformed in 1890 to bring universal male suffrage. The Constitution of 1876 was suspended in 1923, after the coup d'état of Captain General Miguel Primo de Rivera, which makes it the longest-lived constitution in the history of Spain (47 years).

Draft Constitution of 1929

The draft Constitution of 1929, called the Fundamental Statute of the Monarchy, was a draft constitution —or rather a charter granted— prepared by the First Section of the National Consultative Assembly appointed by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in October 1927. It was intended to be the new fundamental law of the Monarchy of Alfonso XIII to replace the liberal Constitution of 1876, suspended since the triumph of the coup d'état of Primo de Rivera in September 1923. He wanted to establish in Spain an authoritarian, anti-liberal and anti-democratic regime, since in its articles the exercise of rights and freedoms was drastically limited, the division of powers was not established, nor was national sovereignty recognized, only half of the unicameral courts were elected by suffrage universal, while the other half were designated by the "corporations" and by the king, and his powers and attributions had been greatly diminished in favor of the Crown and the Council of the Kingdom, a new institution with features of the Old Regime —an antecedent of the body of the same name from the Franco dictatorship. The project broke with the entire history of Spanish constitutionalism and did not satisfy anyone, not even the dictator, due to the broad powers that it granted to the king to the detriment of the head of government, for which reason it was not discussed in the Plenary of the Assembly National Advisory and never entered into force.

Spanish Constitution of 1931

Cover of the 1931 Constitution.

The republican constitution of 1931, born from municipal elections and the subsequent resignation from the throne by Alfonso XIII, introduces for the first time some innovations of contemporary constitutionalism, such as the renunciation of war as a way of resolving international conflicts, or the inclusion, based on Kelsen's theories, of a Constitutional Court, called the Court of Constitutional Guarantees. It also introduces, for the first time, the decentralization of the State, through the Autonomous Regions, an advance of the territorial organization of the 1978 constitution.

The deep contradictions of Spanish society in the twenties and thirties will lead to the Spanish civil war, after which the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco will be established, which will mean the repeal of this constitution and its replacement by the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, valid until the approval of the last democratic constitution of 1978.

Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom 1938-1977

This is the name given to the set of laws that established the political-institutional framework of the dictatorial State model established by General Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War, but the nature of the Constitution is not recognized because they did not recognize the principle of national sovereignty and above them was the power of General Franco, who was the one who had promulgated them.

The first was the Fuero del Trabajo that regulated labor and economic life. The Constitutive Law of the Cortes of 1942 established the Cortes as a collaborative instrument. In the Fuero de los Spaniards of 1945, the rights and duties of Spaniards were established. The National Referendum Law of 1945 regulated the referendum. By the Law of Succession in the Headquarters of State of 1947 Spain is configured as a kingdom. The Law of Principles of the National Movement of 1958 indicates the guiding principles of the legal system and the Organic Law of the State of 1967, reforms all the previous ones and establishes the powers of the head of State.

Finally, the Political Reform Law of 1977 was the legal instrument that allowed the Spanish Transition to be articulated.

Spanish Constitution of 1978

Monument to the 1978 Constitution in Madrid

Generated from the legal reform carried out by the Spanish Courts that led to the Law for political reform, and the result of the negotiation between the various political parties that emerged after the general elections in Spain in 1977; Thus agreeing on a Magna Carta in which politicians representing the immense plurality of different political ideologies participated, both from the right-left spectrum and from the various positions on the territorial, social and economic backbone of Spain. This constitution welcomes the parliamentary monarchy as a political form of the State; assumes the assumption of democratic, social values and the rule of law, as well as the recovery of the territorial organization of the republican constitution of 1931. The 1978 constitution is the only one endorsed and approved by the Spanish people by referendum.

Timeline

The chronology used is that of its promulgation date, which differs from the periods of validity and thus:

• The Constitution of Bayona of 1808, considered as a letter granted (since it was imposed by Napoleon on the Spanish nobles) had a very doubtful validity in terms of time and space, although it was very important to serve as an acicate for the creation of a true constitution by its detractors.
• The Constitution of 1812 was repealed in 1814 (and replaced by the Royal Statute), restored in 1820, revoked in 1823 (the so-called Liberal Triennium) and finally restored in 1836, in which it was replaced by the Constitution of 1837.