Royal Statute of Spain from 1834

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The Royal Statute of 1834 (Estatuto Real) was a rump constitution for Spain, which only consisted of an organizational part. This constitution was enacted as royal law in April 1834 by the regent Maria Christina on behalf of her daughter Isabella II in order to create the legal and organizational basis for a bicameral parliament based on the British model.

prehistory

After the invasion of the “100,000 Sons of Saint Louis”, a French army commissioned by the Holy Alliance , Ferdinand VII was again able to rule without a constitution. After some back and forth, he created the legal requirements before his death so that his eldest daughter Isabella II could succeed him under the reign of her mother Maria Christina. Maria Christina had already taken over the reign from October 1832 to January 1833 during Ferdinand's serious illness. During this time she appointed a new cabinet under Secretary of State Francisco Cea Bermúdez, a moderate absolutist . During the reign, a partial amnesty was issued on October 15, 1832, which enabled thousands of liberals in exile to return to Spain. In the period between January and September 1833, when Ferdinand took over the rule again himself, he did not change the ministers.

After the death of Ferdinand VII , Carlos María Isidro de Borbón claimed the successor to his brother. He was supported in this by the conservative absolutists. This inheritance dispute led to the Carlist Wars . Maria Christina could only expect support from the Liberals for her daughter Isabella II's claim to the throne . Therefore, on January 15, 1834, she appointed a cabinet headed by Prime Minister Francisco Martínez de la Rosa . He was a former member of the Cortes of Cádiz . During the Trienio Liberal he had been a member of the Cortes for Granada, and from February 28 to August 5, 1822, he had headed a moderately liberal cabinet as Foreign Minister. It is probably from him that the draft of the Royal Statute was created, through which the title of President of the Council of Ministers ( Presidente del Consejo dei Ministros ), retained until 1939, was created for the head of government. Recourse to the Constitution of Cadiz was out of the question on the one hand because of the foreign policy importance of such a measure, but on the other hand because of the views of both the regent and the cabinet. The Constitution of Cadiz was not mentioned in the first article of the Royal Statute, which is a kind of preamble. Instead, reference is made to the text of a traditional collection of laws, the Nueva Recopilación, for legitimation .

Validity period

The Royal Statute was enacted on April 10, 1834 by the regent Maria Christina on behalf of her daughter Isabella II. There was no democratic legitimacy whatsoever for this measure. In June 1834 the Cortes were elected for the first time under the provisions of the Royal Statute. After the sessions of 1834/1835 and 1835/1836, the parliament was dissolved and a new election was held in February 1836. The new parliament met in March but was dissolved by royal decree on May 23, 1836. On August 13, 1836, after unrest and the bodyguard mutiny, the regent Maria Christina put the constitution of Cadiz back into force. This repealed the Royal Statute.

content

Apart from the first article, which can be seen as a kind of preamble , the Royal Statute consisted of only an organizational part. It regulated the composition and working methods of the Cortes. It is particularly noticeable that the Cortes, for the first time in Spanish history, consisted of two separate chambers . The Estamento de Próceres del Reino (state of respected personalities) represented a parliamentary chamber similar to the English House of Lords at that time. The parliamentarians of this chamber had their lifelong membership either through their function in the church hierarchy, through belonging to the high nobility or through being when rich landowners, businessmen or scientists were appointed by the king. The representatives of the Estamento de Procuradores del Reino (state of advocates of the kingdom), corresponding to the English House of Commons , were elected for three years. The Royal Statute stipulated that the candidates had to prove a certain minimum income. The electoral laws that were enacted as implementing laws to the Royal Statute provided for an income or education census, which resulted in less than 0.15% of the population being eligible to vote.

The king was free to convene or dissolve parliament. The king appointed the chairman of the Estamento de Próceres del Reino . The chairman of the Estamento de Procuradores del Reino was selected by the King from a list of proposals submitted by Parliament. The Cortes had no right of initiative . The king was not obliged to promulgate laws of the Cortes, even if they had been passed by both chambers.

The Royal Statute contains neither legal guarantees nor regulations that affect the executive , judicial or military branches . The royal statute also does not contain information on the state religion .

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