Spanish Constitution of 1845

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Spanish Constitution of 1845 was an amended version of the Spanish Constitution of 1837 which gave the King more rights.

Development of the Constitution

In November 1843, 13-year-old Queen Isabella II was declared of legal age. In May 1844, the leader of the Moderados, Ramón María Narváez, was appointed Prime Minister. One of his first steps was to draft a new constitution. The Cortes were dissolved and new Cortes elected. The newly elected Cortes passed the new constitution on May 23, 1845.

In 1852, Juan Bravo Murillo was appointed Prime Minister. He pursued the project of a reactionary , absolutist constitution. For this purpose he caused the Queen to dissolve the Cortes on December 1, 1852. The newly elected parliament met on March 1, 1853, but was already on leave in April. There was no vote on a new constitution in the 1854 session either.

In 1854, after a pronunciamiento Leopoldo O'Donnell , Baldomero Espartero was appointed Prime Minister. The new progressist government also strove for a new constitution, albeit with a different aim than the Bravo Murillos. Therefore, a constituent assembly was called on August 11th . In contrast to the provisions of the current constitution of 1845, it was a parliament with only one chamber, which was elected according to the rules of the electoral code of July 20, 1837. The assembly met from November 1854 to July 1855 and again from October 1855 to July 1856. In July, Leopoldo O'Donnell, again by a pronunciamiento, ended the government of the progressives and briefly took over the post of prime minister himself. The Constituent Assembly was dissolved by a Royal Decree of September 2, 1856, without the new constitution being promulgated.

On September 15, 1856, the constitution of 1845, with an addition, was recognized again as a valid constitution. With the Royal Decree of October 14, 1856, the addition was abolished.

In July 1857, the constitution of 1845 was changed by a decision of the Cortes. This change was also reversed on April 20, 1864. The constitution of 1845 was therefore valid again in its original version from 1864 until the promulgation of the new constitution in 1869. After Queen Isabella II went into exile in France in September 1868 , a Constituent Assembly was convened to adopt a new constitution, which was promulgated on June 6, 1869. At this point, at the latest, the constitution of 1845 was repealed.

content

Declaratory part

In the preamble it is pointed out that it was the will of Queen Isabella II and the Cortes to adapt the constitution of 1837 to the present needs and the old freedoms. An explicit reference to sovereignty was avoided. From the preamble and article 12 it emerges that a joint sovereignty between the king and Cortes was assumed.

The granting of rights in the From the Spaniards section is similar to that in the 1837 Constitution, although a change has been made to the statement about religion. The Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion is the religion of the Spanish nation. The state is obliged to maintain the worship service and the servants of the church.

Organizational part

The Cortes consisted of two equal chambers , the Senate and the Congress. The king could appoint an unlimited number of persons who held or had held one of the offices listed in the constitution or belonged to the high nobility as senators for life. Congressmen should be elected by direct election in constituencies. A census should be specified in the electoral law. The electoral law of March 1846 resulted in around 1% of the population being eligible to vote. There were no set meeting periods, but the Cortes had to be convened once a year. The electoral term was five years. The king summoned the Cortes and was able to leave or dissolve them. If the Cortes were dissolved, new Cortes had to be convened within the next three months. Congress chose its own president. The Senate president was chosen by the king. Both houses of parliament and the king had the right of initiative . The king had an absolute right of veto in the promulgation of laws . The king was free to appoint and dismiss ministers. The king appointed and appointed the high officials and judges. The constitution no longer provides for jury courts . The provincial militias are also no longer mentioned in the constitution of 1845. With regard to the provincial and city administrations, reference is made to a separate law. The same goes for the administration of the overseas provinces.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Proyecto de Constitución de Bravo Murillo de 1852 Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cervantesvirtual.com
  2. ↑ Ley electoral del 20 de julio de 1837 , electoral law of July 20, 1837, on cchs.csic.es, viewed August 4, 2010 (Spanish, Word document; 84 kB)
  3. ↑ s: es: Constitución española de 1856 , Constitution of 1856 (Wikisource, Spanish)
  4. ↑ Ley electoral para el nombramiento de Diputados á Cortes , electoral law for the Cortes of March 1846, on cchs.csic.es, viewed August 4, 2010 (Spanish, Word document; 84 kB)

swell