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{{short description|Spanish legal term and concept}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{italic title}}
[[Image:Foruak.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand the Catholic]] confirming the ''fueros'' of [[Biscay]] at [[Guernica (town)|Guernica]] in 1476]]

'''{{lang|es|Fuero}}''' ({{IPA|es|ˈfweɾo|lang}}), '''{{lang|es|Fur}}''' ({{IPA|ca|ˈfuɾ|lang}}), '''{{lang|es|Foro}}''' ({{IPA|gl|ˈfɔɾʊ|lang}}), '''{{lang|es|Foru}}''' ({{IPA|eu|foɾu|lang}}) or '''{{lang|es|Fueru}}''' ({{IPA|ast|'fweru|lang}}) is a [[Law of Spain|Spanish legal term]] and concept. The word comes from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[Forum (Roman)|forum]]}}, an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the [[French language|French]] terms {{lang|fr|for}} and {{lang|fr|foire}}, and the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] terms {{lang|pt|foro}} and {{lang|pt|[[foral]]}}; all of these words have related, but somewhat different meanings.

The [[Spanish language|Spanish]] term {{Lang|es|fuero}} has a wide range of meanings, depending upon its context. It has meant a compilation of laws, especially a local or regional one; a set of laws specific to an identified [[social class|class]] or [[Estates of the realm|estate]] (for example {{lang|es|fuero militar}}, comparable to a military code of justice, or {{lang|es|fuero eclesiástico}}, specific to the [[Roman Catholic Church]]). In many of these senses, its equivalent in [[medieval England]] would be the [[custumal]].

In the 20th century, [[Francisco Franco]]'s regime used the term {{lang|es|fueros}} for several of [[Fundamental Laws of the Realm|the fundamental laws]]. The term implied these were not constitutions subject to debate and change by a sovereign people, but orders from the only legitimate source of authority, as in feudal times.

==Characteristics==
{{Integralism|aspects}}{{Section needs more citations|date=May 2024}} 
[[File:Vidal Mayor Primera recopil·lació dels Furs d'Aragó.jpg|thumb|left|upright|King [[James I of Aragon]] receives from Vidal de Canyelles, Bishop of [[Huesca]], the first compilation of the ''Furs d'Aragó'' (the "Fueros of Aragon"), 1247]]

'''''Fuero''''' dates back to the medieval period: the [[lord]] could concede or acknowledge a ''fuero'' to certain groups or communities, most notably the [[Roman Catholic Church]], the military, and certain regions that fell under the same monarchy as [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] or, later, [[Spain]], but were not fully integrated into those countries.

The relations among ''fueros'', other bodies of law (including the role of precedent), and [[sovereignty]] is a contentious one that influences government and law in the present day. The king of León, [[Alfonso V of León|Alfonso V]], decreed the Fuero de León (1017), considered the earliest laws governing territorial and local life, as it applied to the entire kingdom, with certain provisions for the city of León. The various [[Basque Country (historical territory)|Basque]] provinces also generally regarded their ''fueros'' as tantamount to a municipal [[constitution]]. This view was accepted by some others, including [[President of the United States]] [[John Adams]]. He cited the [[Biscay]]an ''fueros'' as a precedent for the [[United States Constitution]]. (Adams, ''A defense…'', 1786)<ref>Adams, John [http://www.constitution.org/jadams/ja1_04.htm ''A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America''] (1786) The Biscayan Fueros are discussed in his letter IV.</ref> This view regards ''fueros'' as granting or acknowledging [[rights]]. In the contrasting view, ''fueros'' were [[Privilege (legal ethics)|privilege]]s granted by a [[monarch]]. In the letter Adams also commented on the substantial independence of the hereditary Basque Jauntxo families as the origin for their privileges.

In practice, distinct ''fueros'' for specific classes, estates, towns, or regions usually arose out of feudal power politics. Some historians believe monarchs were forced to concede some traditions in exchange for the general acknowledgment of his or her authority, that monarchs granted fueros to reward loyal subjection, or (especially in the case of towns or regions) the monarch simply acknowledged distinct legal traditions.

In medieval Castilian law, the king could assign privileges to certain groups. The classic example of such a privileged group was the Roman Catholic Church: the clergy did not pay taxes to the state, enjoyed the income via [[tithes]] of local landholding, and were not subject to the civil [[court]]s. Church-operated [[canon law|ecclesiastical]] courts tried churchmen for criminal offenses. Another example was the powerful [[Mesta]] organization, composed of wealthy sheepherders, who were granted vast [[grazing rights]] in [[Andalusia]] after that land was reconquered by Spanish Christians from the Muslims (''see [[Reconquista]]''). Lyle N. McAlister writes in ''Spain and Portugal in the New World'' that the Mesta's ''fuero'' helped impede the economic development of southern [[Spain]]. This resulted in a lack of opportunity, and Spaniards emigrated to the [[New World]] to escape these constraints.<ref>McAlister, Lyle N., ''Spain and Portugal in the New World''. 1984, Univ of Minnesota Press, {{ISBN|0-8166-1216-1}}.</ref>

==Aristocratic ''fueros''==
During the Reconquista, the feudal lords granted ''fueros'' to some ''[[villa (chartered town)|villa]]s'' and [[city|cities]], to encourage the colonization of the [[frontier]] and of commercial routes. These laws regulated the governance and the [[penal law|penal]], [[process law|process]] and [[Private law|civil]] aspects of the places. Often the ''fueros'' already codified for one place were granted to another, with small changes, instead of crafting a new redaction from scratch.

=== {{center|List of aristocratic ''fueros''}} ===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
<u>Date</u><br>
1125<br>
1127–47<br>
1129<br>
1133<br>
1145<br>
1147<br>
1152<br>
''c''. 1154<br>
1157<br>
1169<br>
1173<br>
1173<br>
1175<br>
1181<br>
1198<br>
1198
{{col-break}}
<u>Grantor(s)</u><br>
[[Gutierre Fernández de Castro]] and Toda Díaz<br>
[[Pedro González de Lara]] and Eva<br>
Estefanía Sánchez<br>
[[Alfonso VII]]<br>
Íñigo Jiménez<br>
[[Osorio Martínez]] and Teresa Fernández<br>
María Fernández<br>
[[Manrique Pérez de Lara]]<br>
Martín and Elvira Pérez<br>
Sancha Ponce<br>
[[Ponce de Minerva]]<br>
Gonzalo, Constanza and Jimena Osorio<br>
Pedro Pérez and Fernando Cídez<br>
[[Ermengol VII of Urgell]]<br>
Gutierre Díaz<br>
[[Froila Ramírez]] and Sancha
{{col-break}}
<u>Grantee(s)</u><br>
[[San Cebrián de Campos]]<br>
[[Tardajos]]<br>
[[Villarmildo]]<br>
[[Guadalajara, Spain|Guadalajara]]<br>
[[Yanguas]]<br>
[[Villalonso]] and [[Benafarces]]<br>
[[Castrocalbón]]<br>
[[Molina de Aragón|Molina]]<br>
[[Pozuelo de la Orden]]<br>
[[Villarratel]]<br>
[[Azaña (Spain)|Azaña]]<br>
[[Villalobos (Spain)|Villalobos]]<br>
[[Almaraz de Duero]]<br>
[[Barruecopardo]]<br>
[[Villavaruz de Ríoseco]]<br>
[[Cifuentes de Rueda]]
{{col-end}}

==Basque and Pyrenean ''fueros''==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2024}} 
===Approach===
In contemporary Spanish usage, the word ''fueros'' most often refers to the historic and contemporary '''''fueros''''' or charters of certain regions, especially of the [[Basque regions]]. The equivalent for [[Occitan language|Occitan]] usage is ''fòr'', applying to the northern regions of the [[Pyrenees]].

The whole central and western Pyrenean region was [[History of the Basque people|inhabited by the Basques]] in the early Middle Ages within the [[Duchy of Vasconia]]. The Basques and the Pyrenean peoples—as Romance language replaced Basque in many areas by the turn of the first millennium—governed themselves [[Custom (law)|by a native set of rules]], different from [[Roman law|Roman]] and [[Visigothic Code|Gothic]] law but with an ever-increasing imprint of them. Typically their laws, arising from regional traditions and practices, were kept and transmitted orally. Because of this oral tradition, the Basque-language regions preserved their specific laws longer than did those Pyrenean regions that adopted Romance languages. For example, [[Fueros of Navarre|Navarrese law]] developed along less feudal lines than those of surrounding realms. The [[Fors de Bearn]] are another example of Pyrenean law.

Two sayings address this legal idiosyncrasy: "en Navarra hubo antes leyes que reyes," and "en Aragón antes que rey hubo ley," both meaning that law developed and existed before the kings. The force of these principles required monarchs to accommodate to the laws. This situation sometimes strained relations between the monarch and the kingdom, especially if the monarchs were alien to native laws.

This tradition of "laws before kings" was enshrined in the legendary [[Fueros de Sobrarbe]], claimed to have been enacted by king [[Iñigo Arista]] in the 850s in the pyrenean [[Sobrarbe|valley of Sobrarbe]]. Although a 13th-century fabrication, the ''Fueros de Sobrarbe'' were subsequently used as the legal foundation for most Navarrese and Aragonese ''Fueros'' from the 13th century onwards. They enshrined the traditional principle "laws before kings" both in Aragonese and Navarrese law, justified the right to rebel against illegal royal decisions, and legitimised the existence of specific institutions such as the [[Justicia de Aragón]], designed to

===''Fueros'' in the High and Late Middle Ages===
The Fueros de Sobrarbe first appear mentioned in the context of the ascension of the House of Champagne to the Navarrese throne. In 1234, when [[Theobald I of Navarre|Theobald I of Champagne]] inherited the Navarrese throne from his uncle [[Sancho VII of Navarre]], he was pressured by burgers and nobility alike to swear he would abide his decisions by customary law and honour their customary rights and privileges. As a result, Theobald I appointed a commission to codify said laws; this resulted in the first written general ''fuero'', the [[Fuero General de Navarra]], enacted in 1238 and which drew its legal foundation from the fabled ''Fueros of Sobrarbe'' to justify the king's authority being subjected to the Fuero.

The accession of French lineages to the throne of Navarre brought a relationship between the king and the kingdom that was alien to the Basques. The resulting disagreements were a major factor in the 13th-century uprisings and clashes between different factions and communities, e.g. the [[Pamplona#Three boroughs and one city|borough wars of Pamplona]]. The loyalty of the Basques (the ''Navarri'') to the king was conditioned on his upholding the traditions and customs of the kingdom, which were based on oral laws.

===Relations with the crown and rise of absolutism===
[[File:Fuero de Vizcaya.png|thumb|upright|''Fuero'' or law compilation of Biscay (16th century)]]
[[File:Fueros y Actos de las Cortes de Tarazona de 1592.jpg|thumb|upright|Compilation of the Fueros and Acts of Aragon (1592)]]
[[Image:Mapa político de España, 1850.jpg|thumb|220px|Spain in 1850, with the colors representing the different [[bailiwick]]s]]

[[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] [[Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre|conquered and annexed Navarre]] between 1512 and 1528 (up to the [[Pyrenees]]). In order to gain Navarrese loyalty, the Spanish Crown represented by the Aragonese Fernando upheld the kingdom's specific laws (''fueros'') allowing the region to continue to function under its historic laws,<ref name="ConqNavarre">{{cite book | author1 = Monreal, Gregorio| author2 = Jimeno, Roldan|year = 2012 | title = Conquista e Incorporación de Navarra a Castilla| publisher = Pamiela | location=Pamplona-Iruña| isbn = 978-84-7681-736-0}}</ref>{{rp|36–39, 44}} while [[Lower Navarre]] remained independent, but increasingly tied to [[France]], a process completed after [[Henry IV of France|King Henry III of Navarre and IV of France]] died. [[Louis XIII of France]] failed to respect his father's will to keep Navarre and France separate. All specific relevant legal provisions and institutions (Parliament, Courts of Justice, etc.) [[Lower Navarre#History|were devalued in 1620–1624]], and critical powers transferred to the French Crown.

Since the high Middle Ages, many [[History of the Basque people#Modern Period|Basques]] had been born into the ''[[hidalgo (Spanish nobility)|hidalgo]] nobility''. The Basques had no uniform legal corpus of laws, which varied between valleys and seigneuries. Early on (14th century) all [[Gipuzkoa]]ns were granted noble status, several Navarrese valleys ([[Salazar Valley|Salazar]], [[Roncal – Erronkari|Roncal]], [[Baztan (river)|Baztan]], etc.) followed suit, and [[Biscay]]nes saw their universal nobility confirmed in 1525. [[Álava]]'s distribution of nobility was patchy but less widespread, since the Basque specific nobility only took hold in northern areas ([[Ayala/Aiara|Ayala]], etc.). [[Biscay]]nes,<ref>Note that ''Biscayne'' during this period holds an ambiguous meaning, it often refers to the Basques in general.</ref> as nobles, were theoretically excluded from torture and from the need to serve in the Spanish army, unless called for the defence of their own territory (''[[Don Quixote]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s character, [[Sancho Panza]], remarked humorously that writing and reading and being ''Biscayne'' was enough to be secretary to the emperor). Other Basque regions had similar provisions.
The reach of the {{lang|es|fuero}} was not limited by the territory.
Biscayans in other parts of the [[Crown of Castile]] had [[extraterritoriality]].
They could take the [[appellation]]s in cases involving them to the {{lang|es|Sala de Vizcaya}} ("Biscay Hall") at the top court of Castile, the [[Real Audiencia y Chancillería de Valladolid|Chancillería de Valladolid]] ("Court of last resort ({{lit|"[[chancery (medieval office)|chancery]]}}) of [[Valladolid]]").<ref name="Camazón">{{cite news |last1=Camazón |first1=Alba |title=Un ratón, una denuncia por injurias y la justicia exclusiva para vizcaínos: uno de los pleitos de la Chancillería de Valladolid |url=https://www.eldiario.es/castilla-y-leon/cultura/raton-denuncia-injurias-justicia-exclusiva-vizcainos-pleitos-chancilleria-valladolid-eus_1_11541236.html |access-date=6 August 2024 |work=ElDiario.es |date=5 August 2024 |language=es-ES}}</ref><ref name="Emperador">{{cite journal |last1=Emperador |first1=Cristina |title=El archivo de la Real Chancilleria de Valladolid y la Sala de Vizcaya: fondos documentales producidos por una sala de justicia en el Antiguo Régimen |journal=Clío & Crímen: Revista del Centro de Historia del Crimen de Durango |date=2013 |issue=10 |pages=13–34 |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oKLZsYY72uA7w3_CNLXppjUvsGAEVIRO/view |access-date=6 August 2024 |trans-title=The Archive of the Royal Chancellery of Valladolid and the Hall of Biscay: Documentary Funds Produced by a Justice Court in the Ancient Regime |language=es-ES |issn=1698-4374}}</ref>

The Castilian kings took an oath to comply with the Basque laws in the different provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. These provinces and Navarre kept their self-governing bodies and their own parliaments, i.e. the ''diputaciones'' and the [[Juntas Generales|territorial councils]]/[[Parliament of Navarre]]. However, the prevailing Castilian rule prioritized the king's will.<ref name="ConqNavarre"/>{{rp|39–43}} In addition, the ever more centralizing absolutism, especially after the accession to the throne of the [[Bourbon Reforms|Bourbons]], increasingly devalued the laws specific to regions and realms—Basque provinces and the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon—sparking uprisings (Matalaz's uprising in [[Soule]] 1660,<ref name=Collins1990>{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Roger|title=The Basques|year=1990|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford, UK|isbn=0631175652|edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|267}} regular ''Matxinada'' revolts in the 17-18th centuries) and mounting tensions between the territorial governments and the Spanish central government of [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] and [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]], to the point of considering the [[Parliament of Navarre]] dangerous to the royal authority and condemning "its spirit of independence and liberties."<ref name=InstitucionesNav>{{cite journal |last1=Usunáriz Garayoa |first1=Jesús M. |year=2001 |title=Las Instituciones del Reino de Navarra durante la Edad Moderna (1512-1808) |journal=Revista Internacional de Estudios Vascos |volume=2 |issue=46 |publisher=Eusko Ikaskuntza |url=http://www.eusko-ikaskuntza.org/es/publicaciones/colecciones/riev/publicacion.php?o=1273 |access-date=14 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112002250/http://www.eusko-ikaskuntza.org/es/publicaciones/colecciones/riev/publicacion.php?o=1273 |archive-date=12 November 2013 }}</ref>{{rp|716–717}}

Despite vowing loyalty to the crown, the Pyrenean Aragonese and Catalans kept their separate specific laws too, the "King of the Spains" represented a crown tying together different realms and peoples, as claimed by the Navarrese ''diputación'', as well as the [[Parliament of Navarre]]'s last trustee.<ref name="ConqNavarre"/>{{rp|45}} The Aragonese ''fueros'' were an obstacle for [[Philip II of Spain#Domestic policy|Philip II]] when his former secretary [[Antonio Pérez (statesman)|Antonio Pérez]] escaped the death penalty by fleeing to Aragon. The king's only means to enforce the sentence was the [[Spanish Inquisition]], the only cross-kingdom tribunal of his domains. There were frequent conflicts of jurisdiction between the Spanish Inquisition and regional civil authorities and bishops.<ref name="Auñamendi Inquisición">''[http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/74536 Inquisición]'' at the [[Auñamendi Encyclopedia]].</ref> Pérez escaped to France, but Philip's army invaded Aragon and executed its authorities.

In 1714 the Catalan and Aragonese specific laws and self-government [[Nueva Planta decrees|were violently suppressed]]. The Aragonese [[count of Robres]], one strongly opposing the abolition, put it down to Castilian centralism, stating that the royal prime minister, the [[House of Olivares|Count-Duke of Olivares]], had at last a free rein "for the kings of Spain to be independent of all laws save those of their own conscience."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kamen|first1=Henry|date=2001 |title=Philip V of Spain: The King who Reigned Twice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htkqJr0SThsC&q=Philip+V+of+Spain%3A+The+King+who+Reigned+Twice+kamen&pg=PP4|publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-30008-718-7 |access-date=16 November 2013}}, p. 222</ref>

The Basques managed to retain their specific status for a few years after 1714, as they had supported the claimant who became [[Philip V of Spain]], a king hailing from the lineage of [[Henry III of Navarre]]. However, they could not escape the king's attempts (using military force) at centralization (1719–1723). In the run-up to the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the relations between the absolutist Spanish Crown and the Basque governing institutions were at breaking point. By the beginning of the [[War of the Pyrenees]], [[Manuel Godoy]] took office as Prime Minister in Spain, and went on to take a tough approach on the Basque self-government and specific laws. Both fear and anger spread among the Basques at his uncompromising stance.

===The end of the ''fueros'' in Spain===
The 1789 Revolution brought the rise of the Jacobin [[nation state]]—also referred to in a Spanish context as "unitarism",{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}} unrelated to the [[Unitarianism|religious view of similar name]]. Whereas the French [[Ancien Régime]] recognized the regional specific laws, the new order did not allow for such autonomy. The jigsaw puzzle of fiefs was divided into ''[[département]]s'', based on administrative and [[Political unitarization|ideological concerns]], not tradition. In the [[French Basque Country]], what little remained of [[End of Basque home rule in France|self-government was suppressed in 1790]] during the French Revolution and the new administrative arrangement,<ref name=Collins1990/>{{rp|267}} and was followed by the interruption of the customary cross-border trade between the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque districts]] (holding minor internal customs or duties), the mass deportation to the [[Landes (department)|Landes]] of thousands of residents in the bordering villages of [[Labourd]]—Sara, [[Itxassou]], [[Ascain]]—,<ref name="Orhipean">{{cite book|last=Etxegoien (Xamar)|first=Juan Carlos|title=The Country of Basque|year=2009|publisher=Pamiela|location=Pamplona-Iruñea, Spain|isbn=978-84-7681-478-9|edition=2nd |page=23}}</ref>{{rp|18}} including the imposition (fleetingly) of alien names to villages and towns—period of the [[National Convention]] and [[War of the Pyrenees#Western Pyrenees|War of the Pyrenees]] (1793–1795).

Some Basques saw a way forward in the 1808 [[Bayonne Statute]] and [[Dominique-Joseph Garat]]'s project, initially approved by Napoleon, to create a separate Basque state,<ref name="Orhipean"/>{{rp|19}} but the French invasive attitude on the ground and the deadlock of the self-government project led the Basques to find help elsewhere, i.e. local liberal or moderate commanders and public figures supportive of the ''fueros'', or the conservative [[Ferdinand VII]]. The 1812 Spanish [[Constitution of Cadiz]] received no Basque input, ignored the Basque self-government, and was accepted begrudgingly by the Basques, overwhelmed by war events. For example, the 1812 Constitution was signed by Gipuzkoan representatives to a [[Francisco Javier Castaños, 1st Duke of Bailén|general Castaños]] wielding menacingly a sword, and tellingly the [[Siege of San Sebastián|San Sebastián]] council representatives took an oath to the 1812 Constitution with the smell of smoke still wafting and surrounded by rubble.

During the two centuries since the French Revolution and the [[Napoleon]]ic Era, the level of autonomy for the Basque regions within Spain has varied. The cry for ''fueros'' (meaning regional autonomy) was one of the demands of the [[Carlism|Carlists]] of the 19th century, hence the strong support for Carlism from the Basque Country and (especially in the [[First Carlist War]]) in [[Catalonia]] and [[Aragón]]. The Carlist effort to restore an [[absolute monarchy]] was sustained militarily mainly by those whom the ''fueros'' had protected from the full weight of absolutism, due to their readiness to respect region and kingdom specific legal systems and institutions. The defeat of the Carlists in three successive wars resulted in continuing erosion of traditional Basque privileges.

The Carlist land-based small nobility (''jauntxos'') lost power to the new [[bourgeois]]ie, who welcomed the extension of Spanish [[customs]] borders from the [[Ebro]] to the Pyrenees. The new borders protected the fledgling Basque industry from foreign competition and opened the Spanish market, but lost opportunities abroad since customs were imposed on the Pyrenees and the coast.

===Echoes of the ''fueros'' after suppression in Spain===
[[Image:Si el famoso árbol de Guernica da este fruto, procuremos que no vuelva á retoñar, La Madeja Política, 2 de mayo de 1874.jpg|thumb|220px|Spanish satiric depiction against the ''fueros'' embodied in the [[Tree of Gernika]]]]
After the [[First Carlist War]], the new class of Navarre negotiated separately from the rest of Basque districts the ''Ley Paccionada'' (or ''Compromise Act'') in Navarre (1841), which granted some administrative and fiscal prerogatives to the provincial government within Spain. The rest of the Basque districts managed to keep still for another 40 years a small status of self-government, definitely suppressed in 1876. The end of the [[Third Carlist War]] saw the Carlists strong in the Basque districts succumb to the Spanish troops led by King [[Alfonso XII of Spain]] and their reduced [[End of Basque home rule (Spain)|self-government was suppressed]] and converted into [[Basque Economic Agreement|Economic Agreements]]. Navarre's status was less altered in 1876 than that of Gipuzkoa, Biscay, and Álava, due to the separate agreement signed in 1841 by officials of the Government of Navarre with the Spanish government accepting the transformation of the kingdom into a Spanish province.

Despite capitulation agreements acknowledging specific administrative and economic prerogatives, attempts of the Spanish government to bypass them spread malaise and anger in the [[Southern Basque Country|Basque districts]], ultimately leading to the 1893–94 ''Gamazada'' uprising in Navarre. [[Sabino Arana]] bore witness to the popular revolt as a Biscayne envoy to the protests.

The enthusiasm raised by the popular revolt in Navarre against the breach of war ending agreements made a deep impact on Sabino Arana, who went on to found the [[Basque Nationalist Party]] in 1895, based in Biscay but aiming beyond the boundaries of each Basque district, seeking instead a confederation of the Basque districts. Arana, of a Carlist background, rejected the Spanish monarchy and founded [[Basque nationalism]] on the basis of [[Roman Catholicism|Catholicism]] and ''fueros'' (''Lagi-Zaŕa'', as he called them in Basque, "Old Law"). The competitive, Carlist vision of fueros was laid out in 1915 by [[Eustaquio Echave-Sustaeta Pedroso|Eustaquio Echave-Sustaeta]] and in 1921 by [[Teodoro de Arana y Beláustegui]].

The high-water mark of a restoration of Basque autonomy in recent times came under the [[Second Spanish Republic]] in the mid twentieth century. An attempt was made at restoring some kind of Basque self-government in the [http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Estatuto_General_del_Estado_Vasco_aprobado_en_la_Magna_Asamblea_de_Municipios_Vascos_celebrada_en_Estella_(Lizarra)_el_d%C3%ADa_14_de_Junio_de_1931 Statute of Estella], initially garnering a majority of the votes, but controversially failing to take off (Pamplona, 1932). Four years later and amid a climate of war, Basque nationalists supported the [[left-wing politics|left]]-leaning Republic as ardently as they had earlier supported the [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] [[Carlism|Carlists]] (note that contemporary [[Carlists]] supported [[Francisco Franco]]).{{Clarify|date=January 2014}} The defeat of the Republic by the forces of [[Francisco Franco]] led in turn to a suppression of Basque culture, including banning the public use of the [[Basque language]].

The Franco regime considered [[Biscay]] and [[Gipuzkoa]] as "traitor provinces" and cancelled their ''fueros''. However, the pro-Franco provinces of [[Álava]] and [[Navarre]] maintained a degree of autonomy unknown in the rest of Spain, with local telephone companies, provincial limited-bailiwick police forces (''[[miñones]]'' in Alava, and Foral Police in Navarre), road works and some taxes to support local government.

The post-Franco [[Spanish Constitution of 1978]] acknowledged "historical rights" and attempted to compromise in the old conflict between centralism and [[federalism]] by establishing a constitutional provision catering to historic Catalan and Basque political demands, and leaving open the possibility of establishing their own [[autonomous communities of Spain|autonomous communities]]. The Spanish Constitution speaks of "nationalities" and "historic territories", but does not define them. The term ''nationality'' itself was coined for the purpose, and neither Basques nor Catalans are specifically recognized by the Constitution.

After the [[23-F|1981 coup d'état attempt]] and the ensuing passing of the restrictive LOAPA act, such possibility of autonomy got opened to whatever (reshaped) Spanish region demanded it (such as [[Castile and León]], [[Valencia (autonomous community)|Valencia]], etc.), even to those never struggling to have their separate identity recognized and always considering themselves invariably Spanish. The ''[[Autonomous communities of Spain|State of Autonomous Communities]]'' took the shape of administrative districts and was ambiguous as to the actual recognition of separate identities, coming to be known as ''café para todos'', or 'coffee for everyone'.

However, the provincial chartered governments (''Diputación Foral'' / ''Foru Aldundia'') in the Basque districts were restored, getting back significant powers. Other powers held historically by the chartered governments ("Diputación") were transferred to the new government of the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]] autonomous community. The Basque provinces still perform tax collection in their respective territories, coordinating with the Basque/Navarrese, Spanish, as well as European governments.

Today, the act regulating the powers of the government of [[Navarre]] is the ''Amejoramiento del Fuero'' ("Betterment of the Fuero"), and the official name of Navarre is ''Comunidad Foral de Navarra'', ''foral'' ('chartered') being the adjectival form for ''fuero''. The conservative governmental party in Navarre [[Unión del Pueblo Navarro|UPN]] (2013) claimed during its establishment (1979) and at later times the validity and continuity of the institutional framework for Navarre held during [[Franco's dictatorship]] (1936–1975), considering the present regional ''status quo'' an "improvement" of its previous status.

==Private law==
While ''fueros'' have disappeared from administrative law in Spain, (except for the Basque Country and Navarre), there are remnants of the old laws in [[family law]]. When the Civil Code was established in Spain (1888) some parts of it did not run in some regions. In places like [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] and Catalonia, the [[marriage contract]]s and [[inheritance]] are still governed by local laws. This has led to peculiar forms of land distribution.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

These laws are not uniform. For example, in Biscay, different rules regulate inheritance in the ''villas'', than in the country towns (''tierra llana''). Modern jurists try to modernize the foral family laws while keeping with their spirit.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

==''Fueros'' in Spanish America==
During the colonial era in Spanish America, the [[Spanish Empire]] extended ''fueros'' to the clergy, the ''fuero eclesiástico''. The crown attempted to curtail the ''fuero eclesiástico'', which gave the lower secular (diocesan) clergy privileges that separated them legally from their plebeian parishioners. The curtailment of the ''fuero'' has been seen as a reason why so many clerics participated in the [[Mexican War of Independence]], including insurgency leaders [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla|Miguel Hidalgo]] and [[José María Morelos]]. Removal of the ''fuero'' was seen by the Church as another act of the [[Bourbon Reforms]] that alienated the Mexican population, including [[Criollo people|American-born Spaniards]].<ref>N.M. Farriss, ''Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico''. Athlone 1968. {{ISBN|978-0485131215}}</ref>

In the eighteenth century, when Spain established a standing military in key areas of its overseas territory, privileges were extended to the military, the ''fuero militar'', which had an impact on the colonial legal system and society.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Leon G. |title=The Changing Racial and Administrative Structure of the Peruvian Military under the Later Bourbons |journal=The Americas |date=July 1975 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=117–133 |doi=10.2307/980405 |jstor=980405 |s2cid=147578712 }}</ref> The ''fuero militar'' was the first time that privileges extended to plebeians, which has been argued was a cause of debasing justice.<ref>Lyle N. McAlister, ''The 'Fuero Militar' in New Spain''. reprint 2012. {{ISBN|978-1258418892}}</ref> Indigenous men were excluded from the military, and inter-ethnic conflicts occurred.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Archer |first1=Christon I. |title=Pardos, Indians, and the Army of New Spain: Inter-Relationships and Conflicts, 1780-1810 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |date=1974 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=231–255 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X0000897X |jstor=156182 |s2cid=145494084 }}</ref> The ''fuero militar'' presented some contradictions in colonial rule.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saguier |first1=Eduardo R. |title=Las contradicciones entre el fuero militar y el poder político en el Virreinato del Río de la Plata |trans-title=The contradictions between the military jurisdiction and the political power in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata |language=es |journal=Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe |date=1994 |issue=56 |pages=55–73 |jstor=25675617 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Archer |first1=Christon I. |title=The Role of the Military in Colonial Latin America |journal=The History Teacher |date=May 1981 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=413–421 |doi=10.2307/493419 |jstor=493419 }}</ref>

In post-independence Mexico, formerly [[New Spain]], ''fueros'' continued to be recognized by the Mexican state until the mid-nineteenth century. As [[Liberalism in Mexico|Mexican liberals]] gained power, they sought to implement the liberal ideal of [[equality before the law]] by eliminating special privileges of the clerics and the military. The [[La Reforma|Liberal Reform]] and the liberal [[Constitution of 1857]]'s abolition of those ''fueros'' mobilized Mexico's conservatives, which fought a [[War of the Reform|civil war]], and rallied allies to their cause with the slogan ''religión y fueros'' ("religion and privileges").{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

For post-independence Chile, the ''fuero militar'' also was an issue concerning the rights and privileges of citizenship.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=James A. |title=The Burden of Citizenship: Artisans, Elections, and the Fuero Militar in Santiago de Chile, 1822-1851 |journal=The Americas |date=2002 |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=443–469 |doi=10.1353/tam.2002.0030 |jstor=1007862 |s2cid=126534661 }}</ref>

==List of fueros==
*[[Fueros of Navarre]]
*[[Fors de Bearn]]
*[[Furs de Valencia]]
*[[Fuero de Oreja]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Llorente, Juan Antonio [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210180317/http://www.euskadi.net/q56/q56ControladorServlet?mapping=detalleMonografia.do&accion=2&idObjeto=2105350&idLibro=09600009808 ''Noticias históricas de las tres provincias vascongadas'']. Tomo II, Capitulo I.'' (1800) Available (in Spanish) online through the Digital Library of the Sancho El Sabio Foundation.''
* [http://www.cfnavarra.es/FUEROSEXPO/ "Los Fueros de Navarra: Exposición"] - discussion of fueros on the official web site of the Navarrese government (in Spanish).
*Much of the discussion of the Basque ''fueros'' comes from [[:es:Nacionalismo vasco]] in the Spanish-language Wikipedia; last updated from the version dated 11:44 23 Sep, 2004. <!-- The article is marked for a POV dispute, but this translation is being made 20 Oct 2004 and neither that article nor its talk page has been touched in about 4 weeks -- [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] | [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 00:03, Oct 21, 2004 (UTC) -->
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071202131101/http://www.geocities.com/urunuela24/rioja-abierta/rioja-abierta.htm Fueros de la Rioja], a collection of the local Medieval charters of several towns in [[La Rioja (autonomous community)|La Rioja]], in old Castilian or Latin.
* [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=fuero&TIPO_HTML=2&FORMATO=ampliado&TIPO_BUS=3 Fuero] at the Dictionary of the [[Real Academia Española]].

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal
| last1 = Barrero García |first1=Ana María
| title = El Derecho local en la Edad Media y su formulación por los reyes castellanos
| year = 1989
| journal = [[Anales de la Universidad de Chile]]
| volume = 5
| number = 20
| pages=105–130
}}
* {{cite book
| author = Barrero García, Ana María y Alonso Martín, María Luz
| title = Textos de Derecho local español en la Edad Media. Catálogo de Fueros y Costums municipales
| year = 1989
| publisher = Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias Jurídicas
| isbn = 84-00-06951-X
}}
* {{cite book
| author = Barrientos Grandon, Javier
| title = Introducción a la historia del Derecho chileno. I. Derechos propios y Derecho común en Castilla
| year = 1994
| publisher = Santiago: Barroco Libreros
}}
* {{cite journal
| author = García-Gallo, Alfonso
| title = Aportación al estudio de los Fueros
| year = 1956
| journal = Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español
| volume = 26
| id = p 387-446
}}

==External links==
{{Americana Poster|year=1920|Fuero}}
* A digitized version of Amalio Marichalar, Marqués de [[Montesa, Valencia|Montesa]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927012137/http://www.bne.es/cgi-bin/wsirtex?FOR=WBNBIBT1&VIS=W01BIMO&FMT=WBNARIA&ITE=0004701272289 Historia de la legislación y recitaciones del derecho civil de España : Fueros de Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa y Alava]'', 2ª ed. corr. y aum., ("History of the legislation and recitations of the civil law of Spain; 2nd edition corrected and augmented") Madrid : [s.n.], 1868 (Impr. de los Sres. Gasset, Loma y compañia) p.; 8º mayr is available on the site of the [[Biblioteca Nacional Española]].

[[Category:Basque]]
[[Category:Navarre]]
[[Category:Spanish language]]
[[Category:Legal terminology]]
[[Category:Basque history]]
[[Category:Politics of Spain]]
[[Category:Carlism]]
[[Category:Legal history of Spain]]
[[Category:Political charters]]