Set of constitutional laws organizing the powers of the Francoist regime in Spain
The Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom (Spanish: Leyes Fundamentales del Reino) were a set of de factoconstitutional laws organizing the powers of the Francoist regime in Spain, the dictatorship of GeneralissimoFrancisco Franco. In 1977, during the transition to democracy, an eighth law with the same status as the others was brought into effect, altering the legislative framework in order to bring to a head the process of political reform. Rather than a typical constitution, the laws were fueros, a distinctly Spanish legal concept dating to medieval times with a wide range of meanings, as they had not been developed or approved by elected representatives.
1. The Labour Fuero[es] of 1938: Influenced by the ItalianLabour Charter of 1927, it regulated the labour conditions and economic life of Spain. Though it established a minimum wage and limits on the length of the working day, these concessions were subordinate to the national interest.
2. The Law Constituting the Cortes[es] of 1942: Created with an eye to a coming Allied victory in World War II. It recreated the Cortes as a limited instrument of collaboration, for creating and promulgating new laws. The first Cortes of Francoist Spain was inaugurated on 18 July 1942.
3. The Fuero of the Spaniards[es] of 1945: Fixed the rights and duties of the Spanish people. One intent was to convey an impression of formal democratisation to the Potsdam Conference.
4. The National Referendum Law[es] of 1945: Established the use of referendums to settle important points. The Law of Succession made it obligatory to hold a referendum to change the fundamental laws.
6. The Law of the Principles of the National Movement[es] of 1958: Established some organising principles for the judiciary of Franco's Spain, and enshrined into law the principles of Francoism per se.
7. The Organic Law of the State of 1967: Enumerated the ends of the state and fixed the powers and duties of the Head of State, as well as creating formally the office of Chief of Government. The law was approved by a referendum on 14 December 1966.
8. The Political Reform Act of 1977: Political reform was begun in 1976. This law established the minimum conditions for the election of a new Cortes by universal suffrage, and authorised it to carry out the constitutional reforms of the transition. The law was approved by a referendum on 15 December 1976. Thus, in the State's time of rupture, the existing legal structures were used to create a parliamentary monarchy.
A constituent assembly is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected by popular vote, drawn by sortition, appointed, or some combination of these methods. Assemblies are typically considered distinct from a regular legislature, although members of the legislature may compose a significant number or all of its members. As the fundamental document constituting a state, a constitution cannot normally be modified or amended by the state's normal legislative procedures in some jurisdictions; instead a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the rules for which are normally laid down in the constitution, must be set up. A constituent assembly is usually set up for its specific purpose, which it carries out in a relatively short time, after which the assembly is dissolved. A constituent assembly is a form of representative democracy.
Francoist Spain, also known as the Francoist dictatorship, was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title Caudillo. After his death in 1975, Spain transitioned into a democracy. During this time period, Spain was officially known as the Spanish State.
The Spanish Constitution is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. It is a written constitution.
The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It was the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic and was in force until 1 April 1939. This was the second period of Spanish history in which both head of state and head of government were democratically elected.
The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as la Transición or la Transición española, is a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of constitutional monarchy under Juan Carlos I.
The 1977 Spanish general election was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1977, to elect the Spanish Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 207 seats in the Senate.
The Council of the Realm was a corporate organ of Francoist Spain, created by the Law of Succession to the Headship of the State of 1947. Within the institutional complex created to hierarchize the regime of Francisco Franco, was the high council that advised the Head of State in the decision making of its exclusive competence. An antecedent of the Council of the Realm is the institution of the same name that appears in the Draft Constitution of 1929 of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera.
The current Constitution of Bolivia came into effect on 7 February 2009 when it was promulgated by President Evo Morales, after being approved in a referendum with 90.24% participation. The referendum was held on 25 January 2009, with the constitution being approved by 61.43% of voters.
A constitutional referendum was held in Spain on Wednesday, 6 December 1978, to gauge support for either the ratification or repealing of the Spanish Constitution which had been approved by the Cortes Generales on 31 October 1978. The question asked was "Do you approve of the Constitution Bill?". The referendum resulted in 91.8% of valid votes in support of the bill on a turnout of 67.1%.
A referendum on political reform was held in Spain on Wednesday, 15 December 1976, to gauge support for either the ratification or repealing of the Political Reform Act which had been approved by the Cortes Españolas on 18 November 1976. The question asked was "Do you approve of the Political Reform Bill?". The referendum resulted in 97.4% of valid votes in support of the bill on a turnout of 77.7%.
An Organic Law in Spanish law under the present Spanish Constitution of 1978 must be passed by an absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies. The Spanish Constitution specifies that some areas of law should be regulated by this procedure, such as the Laws of Development of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms contained in the first section of Chapter Two of Title I of the Constitution, which was the basis for the Statutes of Autonomy of the various autonomous communities of Spain. Prior to the 1978 constitution this concept had no precedent in Spain. It was inspired by a similar concept in the current French Constitution of 1958, which established the French Fifth Republic.
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia, the political institutions of the Catalan community, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain, and the financing of the Government of Catalonia.
A referendum on the new constitution or organic law was held in Spain on 14 December 1966, with all Spaniards over age 21 being allowed to participate. The question asked was "Do you approve of the Organic Law of the State Bill?". It was approved by 98.1% of valid votes on a turnout of 88.8%.
Republicanism in Spain is a political position and movement that holds that Spain should be a republic.
The Political Reform Act was the Spanish law that re-established democracy and allowed the elimination of the governmental structures of the Franco dictatorship through a legal process. It is one of the key events in the Spanish Transition.
The Organic Law of the State was promulgated during the third stage of the Francoist regime in Spain, by a government in which most of the power was in the hands of technocrats. Together with the other seven Fundamental Laws of the Realm, the process of institutionalization of the Francoist regime was achieved. The law was approved by a referendum on 14 December 1966, with the favorable vote of 98.1% of the voters.
The Law of Succession to the Headship of the State was the fifth of the eight Fundamental Laws of the Realm organizing the powers of the Francoist regime in Spain. It established provisions for the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, appointed Francisco Franco as the Head of State of Spain for life. It provided that his successor would be proposed by Franco himself with the title of King or Regent of the Kingdom, but that would have to be approved by the Cortes Españolas.
Women rights in Francoist Spain (1939–1975) and the democratic transition (1975–1985) were limited. The Franco regime immediately implemented draconian measures that legally incapacitated women, making them dependents of their husbands, fathers or the state. Moderate reforms would not begin until the 1960s, with more dramatic reforms taking place after Franco's death in 1975 and the ensuing democratic transition.
Women's suffrage in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition was constrained by age limits, definitions around heads of household and a lack of elections. Women got the right to vote in Spain in 1933 as a result of legal changes made during the Second Spanish Republic. Women lost most of their rights after Franco came to power in 1939 at the end of the Spanish Civil War, with the major exception that women did not universally lose their right to vote. Repression of the women's vote occurred nevertheless as the dictatorship held no national democratic elections between 1939 and 1977.
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