View source for List of constitutions of Spain

{{Short description|Overview of Spanish constitutions}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{PoliticsES}}
[[Spain]] has [[promulgation|proclaimed]] a number of Constitutions. The current [[Constitution of Spain]] of 1978 is the culmination of the [[Spanish transition to democracy]].

The idea of a national constitution for Spain arose from the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] initiated as a result of the [[French Revolution]].  The earliest constitution was written and promulgated in 1808 when Napoleon invaded Spain, Bourbon monarchs [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]] and [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] abdicated, and Napoleon placed his brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]] on the throne. A constitution was drafted and the ''Junta Española'' Joseph I signed it. A major feature of the [[Bayonne Constitution|Constitution of 1808]] was the provision for representation by Spanish America on an equal basis with the peninsula. Although signed by Spanish aristocrats and the new monarch, few in Spain recognized this document.  

With the eruption of the [[Peninsular War]] to oust the French invaders. A new [[Cortes of Cádiz|Cortes]] was summoned and met at [[Cádiz]], which included Spanish American and Philippine delegates, and promulgated the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812]]. This constitution is generally recognized as Spain's first written constitution since it was drafted freely by delegates of the [[Spanish Empire]].

During [[Francoist Spain]], there were many attempts to create stable institutions that did not (at least directly) emanate from Francisco Franco as they did in the post-war period. The Fundamental Laws of the Realm (Spanish: ''Leyes Fundamentales del Reino'') were a constitution in parts enacted through nearly 20 years starting in the 1950s. Most of those Laws theoretically provided for a quite free state, but ultimately the power of the [[Caudillo]] was supreme. They established the very institutions that would later, under [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos I]] and Prime Minister [[Adolfo Suárez]], commit "constitutional suicide" and pass the Political Reform Act, starting the [[Spanish transition to democracy]]. 

Finally, the constitution in force is similar to the (unwritten) British democratic monarchy model, but the [[2014 Catalan self-determination referendum]] has provoked calls for an entirely democratic federal republican model.

Below there is a comprehensive [[Constitutions of Spain#Table|table]], but this is an overview: 
* 1808–1814 Bayonne Constitution - Napoleonic restructuring from royal edict to the bicameral parliament
* 1812 Constitution of 1812 -  The first attempt at decentralization
* 1814 Constitution of 1812 - derogated by the [[Monarchy of Spain|King]], absolutist monarchy restored
* 1820–23 Reinstatement of the Constitution of 1812
* 1834 Absolute monarchy
* 1837 Constitutional monarchy
* 1845 Regency empowerment
* 1856 Failed attempt at democracy
* 1869 Another failed attempt at democracy
* 1873 [[First Spanish Republic]]
* 1876 Failed attempt to become a federal republic
* 1931 [[Second Spanish Republic]]
* 1936 Martial law under [[Francisco Franco]]
* 1939 – 1978 [[Francoist Spain]]
* 1978 Transition to [[History of Spain (1975–present)|democratic monarchy]]

==Table==

{|class="wikitable"
!style="width:10%"|Name
!style="width:10%"|In force
!style="width:5%"|Form of government
!style="width:15%"|Democracy
!style="width:18%"|Repealed
!style="width:40%"|Observations
|-
|align="center"|[[Bayonne Constitution]]<br/><small>Royal Charter</small>
|align="center"|1808–1814
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Bicameral parliament with semi-elective lower house.
|align="center"|[[Peninsular War]] lost by [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph I]].
|align=" center"|Not recognized by the Spanish patriots during the war. Most of its contents were to be enacted through the 1810s, so it did not actually come into effect. However, it provided for representation from Spanish America and the Philippines.
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Constitution of 1812]]
|align="center"|1812–1814<br/>1820–1823<br/>1836–1837
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|elected parliament.
|align="center"|[[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]] reinstated [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]] in 1814 and again in 1823. Superseded in 1837.
|align="center"|Weakened the power of the monarch, strengthened the role of the legislative Cortes, gave representation to Spanish America and the Philippines, extended equal citizenship to all free men in the Empire, [[universal manhood suffrage]], established public education from primary school through university, freedom of the press, maintained Roman Catholicism as the state religion. 
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Royal Statute of 1834|Royal Statute of 1834]]<br/><small>Royal Charter</small>
|align="center"|1834–1836
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Bicameral parliament with elected lower house and appointed Senate.
|align="center"|Regent forced to reinstate the 1812 Constitution after a military ''[[pronunciamiento]]''.
|align="center"|Granted by [[Maria Christina of Austria|Maria Christina]] in order to get support from the liberals in the [[First Carlist War]].
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1837|Constitution of 1837]]
|align="center"|1837–1845
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|
|align="center"|Superseded. 
|align="center"|Partially suspended by [[Baldomero Espartero]] to rule by decree between 1840 and 1843.
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1845|Constitution of 1845]]
|align="center"|1845–1869
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Parliament elected by [[censitary suffrage]].
|align="center"|[[Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II]] and her Government was overthrown in the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution of 1868]].
|align="center"|[[Doctrinaires|Doctrinaire]] attempt to exploit the plots against the young Isabella and the Regency in order to reinforce the monarchy
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Draft Constitution of 1856|Constitution of 1856]]
|align="center"|''Not enacted''
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Parliament elected by censitary suffrage.
|align="center"|Scrapped by the new government.
|align="center"|Passed by the Parliament but not enacted by Isabella II as moderate liberals returned to power.
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1869|Constitution of 1869]]
|align="center"|1869–1876
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Parliament elected by universal male suffrage.
|align="center"|Republic declared by the Cortes after the abdication of [[Amadeo I of Spain|Amadeo I]].
|align="center"|An interim compromise between royalist conservatives and republican progressives
|-
|align="center"|[[Draft Spanish Constitution of 1873|Constitution of 1873]]
|align="center"|''Not enacted''
|align="center"|Federal republic
|align="center"|Bicameral parliament elected every two years by universal male suffrage. 
|align="center"|[[Arsenio Martínez Campos]] led a successful ''pronunciamiento'' restoring the [[Spain under the Restoration|Bourbon monarchy]].
|align="center"|Republic collapsed before even passing the Constitution, mainly due to wide disagreement over the federalism ''vs'' centralism issue.
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1876|Constitution of 1876]]
|align="center"|1876–1931
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Parliament elected, firstly by censitary, then universal male suffrage from the 1890s.
|align="center"|[[Second Spanish Republic|Republic]] instated after [[Alfonso XIII of Spain|Alphonse XIII]] fled Spain.
|While theoretically democratic, elections were routinely rigged by the governing party, and in practice power was shared by two alternating parties (the [[turno]] system). During [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera's]] dictatorship (1923–1930) many of its articles were suspended in a de facto dictatorship.
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1931|Constitution of 1931]]
|align="center"|1931–1939
|align="center"|Parliamentary republic
|align="center"|Unicameral parliament, firstly with universal male suffrage, then [[female suffrage]] from 1933.
|align="center"|[[Spanish Civil War|Civil War]] lost by the Republican side.
|align="center"|During the Civil War (1936–1939) it was abolished by the Nationalists and widely disregarded in the Republican zone.
|-
|align="center"|[[Fundamental Laws of the Realm]]
|align="center"|1938–1978
|align="center"|Military dictatorship
|align="center"|Partially elected unicameral parliament with little powers of its own.
|align="center"|Superseded when Parliament adopted the [[Spanish Constitution of 1978|Constitution of 1978]].
|align="center"|A set of laws enacted by the dictator [[Francisco Franco]] in order to shape his political regime and adapt it to changes. The individual laws passed under Franco are: ''Fuero del Trabajo'' (1938), ''Ley Constitutiva de las Cortes'' (1942), ''Fuero de los Españoles'' (1945), ''Ley del Referéndum Nacional'' (1945), ''Ley de Sucesión en la Jefatura del Estado'' (1945), ''Ley de Principios del Movimiento Nacional'' (1958), and ''Ley Orgánica del Estado'' (1967).
The Law for Political Reform ''(Ley de Reforma Política)'' of 1977, last of the Fundamental Laws and passed after Franco's death, started the [[Spanish transition to democracy]].
|-
|align="center"|[[Spanish Constitution of 1978|Constitution of 1978]]
|align="center"|1978–present
|align="center"|Constitutional monarchy
|align="center"|Parliamentary democracy with bicameral, elective parliament.
|align="center"|Currently in force.
|align="center"|First in Spanish constitutional history not to grant any emergency power (i.e. sacking the PM, dissolving the Cortes) to the Head of State.
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012233918/http://www.constitucion.es/otras_constituciones/espana/index.html Text of all Spanish Constitutions, except the 1808 one]

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[[Category:Constitutions of Spain]]
[[Category:Constitutional history|Spain]]