View source for Catalan constitutions

{{Short description|Constitutions}}
{{Use American English|date = April 2019}}
{{Infobox legislation
|short_title            = Constitutions of Catalonia<br />{{small|''Constitucions de Catalunya''}}
|legislature            = 
|image                  = ConstitucionsCatalanesVolumIr.jpg
|imagesize              = 200px
|image_upright          = 
|imagealt               = 
|caption                = Compilation of 1702
|long_title             = 
|citation               = 
|territorial_extent     = [[Principality of Catalonia]]
|considered_by          = 
|enacted_by             = [[Catalan Courts]]
|date_enacted           = 1283 (first), 1706 (last)
|date_passed            = 
|date_assented          = 
|royal_assent           = 
|date_signed            = 
|signed_by              = 
|date_commenced         = 
|date_effective         = 1283
|date_of_expiry         = 
|date_repealed          = 
|administered_by        = 
|bill                   = 
|bill_citation          = 
|bill_date              = 
|introduced_by          = [[Count of Barcelona]]
|1st_reading            = 
|2nd_reading            = 
|3rd_reading            = 
|conf_committee_passed  = 
|committee_report       = 
|date_conf_committee    = 
|white_paper            = 
|amends                 = 
|repeals                = 
|amended_by             = 
|repealed_by            = [[Nueva Planta decrees]] (1716)
|related_legislation    = [[Usages of Barcelona]]
|summary                = 
|keywords               = 
|status                 = 
}}

{{Catalan-speaking world|image=|caption=1702 compilation|expanded=History}}
The '''Catalan constitutions''' ({{langx|ca|Constitucions catalanes}}, {{IPA|ca|kunstitusiˈons kətəˈlanəs|IPA}}) were the laws of the [[Principality of Catalonia]] promulgated by the [[Count of Barcelona]] and approved by the [[Catalan Courts]]. The ''Corts'' in [[Catalan language|Catalan]] have the same origin as ''courts'' in English (the sovereign's councillors or retinue) but instead meaning the [[legislature]]. The first constitutions were promulgated by the ''Corts'' of 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the ''Corts'' of 1705. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules and could only be revoked by the Catalan Courts themselves. The compilations of the [[constitution]]s and other rights of [[Catalonia]] followed the Roman tradition of the [[Codex]].

==History==
=== Origin: The Catalan Courts of 1283===
The first Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Catalan Courts held in Barcelona in 1283. The last ones were promulgated in 1706 by the Courts of 1705–1706 during the disputed reign of [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles III]], the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–1713). The first compilation was prescribed by [[Ferdinand I of Aragon]], and suggestion by the Courts held in Barcelona from 1413. It spread in edition of the 1495, together with the [[Usages of Barcelona]]:
*''Usatges de Barcelona, Constitutions, Capitols, y Actes de Cort, y {{Not a typo|altras}} leys de Cathalunya'' ("Usages of Barcelona, constitutions, chapters and acts of court and other laws of Catalonia")

The compilations agreed in the Catalan Courts of 1585 and of 1702 were published in three volumes:

<!-- These spellings are taken from images of the books. They are different from modern Catalan. -->
*''Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya'' ("Constitutions and other rights of Catalonia")
*''Pragmaticas y altres drets de Cathalunya'' ("Pragmatics and other rights of Catalonia")
*''Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya superfluos, contraris y corregits'' ("Constitutions and other rights of Catalonia, superfluous, contrary, and corrected")

=== De jure abolition: the Nueva Planta decrees ===
[[File:Constitucions_de_Catalunya.jpg|thumb|Compilation of 1493]]
Shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, the king [[Philip V of Spain]] from the House of Bourbon issued the set of [[decree]]s known as the [[Nueva Planta decrees]] (Spanish: ''Decretos de Nueva Planta'', Catalan: ''Decrets de Nova Planta''). This series of decrees abolished the separate laws of the territories that supported his Habsburg rival to the throne, the Archduke Charles of Austria; this included all realms of the [[Crown of Aragon]]. The ''Decretos'' attempted to make [[Spain]] into a centralized and absolutist monarchy on the model of [[France]], applying the laws of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] to all of Spain. These acts were promulgated in [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]] and [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] in 1707, and were extended in 1716 to the Principality of Catalonia and the [[Balearic Islands]] (with the exception of [[Menorca]], a British possession at the time).

Thus, the Catalan Constitutions were effectively abolished by the King's authority after his military victory, rather than through any legislative process within Catalonia itself. The change ignored the Catalan Constitution's own provisions for how they were to be amended or reformed.

===Restoration promise: The Third Carlist War===
During the [[Third Carlist War]] (1872–1876), the [[Carlism|Carlist]] forces managed to occupy some cities in the Catalan interior. [[Isabel II of Spain|Isabel II]] was in exile and King [[Amadeo I of Spain|Amadeo I]] had reigned since 1871, although he was not generally popular. The pretender [[Charles VII of Spain]], grandson of [[Infante Carlos, Count of Molina|Charles V of Spain]] (hence ''Carlist'' from ''Carlos'', "Charles"), promised the Catalans, Valencians and Aragonese the return of their Charters or [[fuero]]s (Catalan: ''furs'') and the constitutions that Philip V had previously abolished.

The promise was never fulfilled, as the Carlist revolt did not succeed. [[Carlos María de los Dolores]] finally departed for [[France]], 27 February 1876, the same day that [[Alfonso XII of Spain]] entered [[Pamplona]].

==See also==
*[[Principality of Catalonia]]
*[[Parliament of Catalonia]]
*[[Nueva Planta Decrees]]
*[[Civil Code of Catalonia]]

==References==
* [[:ca:s:Constitucions de Catalunya del 1495|Constitucions de Catalunya del 1495]] on [[Wikisource]].
* [[:ca:s:Furs, capítols, provisions e actes de cort fets y atorgats per la S.C.R.M. del rey don Phelip nostre senyor, ara gloriosamente regnant. Monçó, 1626|Furs, capítols, provisions e actes de cort fets y atorgats per la S.C.R.M. del rey don Phelip nostre senyor, ara gloriosamente regnant. Monçó, 1626]] ("Fueros, chapters, provisions and acts of court made and awarded by the S.C.R.M. of King Philip our lord, who reigns gloriously") on Wikisource.
* [[:ca:s:Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya, Barcelona, 1704|Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya, Barcelona, 1704]] on Wikisource.
* Chapters of the ''Corts'' of Montsó digitalized, at the Spanish Office of Culture [http://www.mcu.es/archivos/lhe/Consultas/mostrarTitulo.jsp?titulo=028061 record] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080319082515/http://www.mcu.es/archivos/lhe/Consultas/imagen.jsp?cod=028061 image] (fragment referent to the [[Consulate of the Sea]].)

==External links==
{{commonscat|Constitutions of Catalonia}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051219122216/http://www10.gencat.net/gencat/AppJava/en/generalitat/generalitat/origens/dinastia.jsp The demise of the catalan dynasty and the growing estrangement of the crown]

{{Statute of Catalonia}}

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