Catalan constitutions

The Catalan constitutions (Catalan: Constitucions catalanes, IPA: [kunstitusiˈons kətəˈlanəs]) were the laws of the Principality of Catalonia introduced and promulgated by the Count of Barcelona and passed by the Catalan Courts (the parliament).^[1] The first constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Corts of 1705-1706. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules, including royal decrees, and could only be revoked by the Catalan Courts themselves. The compilations of the constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex.

The precedents and origins of the Catalan constitutions can be traced back to the 11th century; as part of efforts to forward and somehow control the process of feudalization, the count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer I began the codification of the law in the Usages of Barcelona, the first full compilation of feudal law in Western Europe.^[2] The first constitutions passed in a regulated manner by Courts were promulgated by the Catalan Courts held in Barcelona in 1283, presided over by Peter III of Aragon. The last ones were promulgated in 1706 by the Courts of 1705–1706 during the disputed reign of Charles III, the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).

The first compilation was prescribed by Ferdinand I of Aragon, by suggestion of the Courts held in Barcelona from 1413. It spread in the edition of 1495, together with the Usages of Barcelona:

• Usatges de Barcelona, Constitutions, Capitols, y Actes de Cort, y 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:

• 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")

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 decrees 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 Castile to all of Spain.

These acts were promulgated in Valencia and Aragon in 1707, and were extended in 1716 to the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Mallorca (with the exception of Menorca, a British possession at the time). Thus, those Catalan Constitutions of public and administrative laws were effectively suspended by the King's authority after his military victory, rather than through any legislative process within Catalonia itself. The change ignored constitution's own provisions for how they were to be amended or reformed. As legislation made up by pactism they could not be repealed unilaterally, therefore, the Decree left them without effect rather than fully abolishing them.^[3]

In July 1810, during the Peninsular War, general Enrique O’Donnell, captain general of Catalonia, at the suggestion of the Superior Junta of the Principality of Catalonia (a body opposed to the French government) convened a congress in Tarragona. The members of the Congress, which emulated the original Catalan Courts, and the Junta of the Principality, presided over by the captain general, swore to respect and defend the Constitutions and rights of Catalonia.^[4]

During the Third Carlist War (1872–1876), the Carlist forces managed to occupy some cities in the Catalan countryside. Isabel II was in exile and King Amadeo I had reigned since 1871, although he was not generally popular. The pretender Charles VII of Spain, grandson of Charles V of Spain (hence Carlist from Carlos, "Charles"), promised the Catalans, Valencians and Aragonese the return of their Charters or fueros (Catalan: furs) and the constitutions that Philip V had previously abolished. The promise was never fulfilled, as the Carlist revolt did not succeed.

• Compilation of 1413
• Compilation of 1493
• Compilation of 1585
• Compilation of 1702
• Compilation of 1706

"In Catalonia, cases or sentences from foreign courts are not heard or resolved." -Courts of Barcelona, 1283.

"Since the constitutions and other laws by which the Catalan land is governed are drawn up solely and exclusively by the Courts of Catalonia, only they have the power and force to repeal or amend them, so that orders contrary to the uses, general or special privileges, chapters of courts or constitutions, must not be obeyed nor complied, even if they had been dictated by the king or his heir." -Courts of Barcelona, 1422.

"It would be of little use to make laws and constitutions if they were not strictly observed and rigorously complied with by all citizens and especially by the king and his officials. Therefore, confirming the Usages of Barcelona, ​​we want and command that they be observed to the letter, so that no contravention of the uses, practices, customs or constitutions of Catalonia is valid, even if they were dictated by the king or his officials." -Courts of Monzón, 1289, and Courts of Barcelona, 1481.

"To suppress the ease with which some royal officials opened and read letters that came and went by the post or ordinary mail under the pretext of doing so to suit the royal interest, and in the same way the greed of the postmen or senior postmen in demanding payment for the letters in silver coin.

Therefore, for the greater freedom of trade, we decree and order with the praise and approval of the present Court: that no royal officer, not even the lieutenant general or the captain general, may open or read the letters that come and go by the ordinary couriers or mails, and likewise, that the amounts of said letters that come and go from the Spanish Peninsula must be demanded in ardit or billon currency only [...], and that those who contradict this constitution be condemned for non-observance, and likewise the postmaster general and his officers who allow letters to be opened in their homes without notifying the consistory of deputies and auditors of the violence which the consistory is obliged to come to the defense with the penalty of one third of his salary." -Courts of Barcelona: Constitution 22/1706.

• Principality of Catalonia
• Parliament of Catalonia
• Tribunal de Contrafaccions
• Civil Code of Catalonia
• Law of Andorra

• Ferro, Víctor (1987). El Dret Públic Català. Les Institucions a Catalunya fins al Decret de Nova Planta. Vic: Ed. Eumo. ISBN 84-7602-203-4.
• Kagay, Donald J. (1994). The Usatges of Barcelona: The fundamental law of Catalonia. USA.: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1535-4.

• Constitucions de Catalunya del 1495 on Wikisource.
• 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.
• Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya, Barcelona, 1704 on Wikisource.
• Chapters of the Corts of Monzón digitalized, at the Spanish Ministry of Culture record image (fragment referent to the Consulate of the Sea).

• Media related to Constitutions of Catalonia at Wikimedia Commons
• The demise of the catalan dynasty and the growing estrangement of the crown