The Spanish Constitution (Spanish: Constitución Española) is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy.
The current version was approved in 1978, three years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. There have been dozens of constitutions and constitution-like documents in Spain; however, it is "the first which was not imposed by a party but represented a negotiated compromise among all the major parties". It was sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I on 27 December, before it was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (the government gazette of Spain) on 29 December, the date on which it became effective.
The promulgation of the constitution marked the climax of the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of general Franco, on 20 November 1975, who ruled over Spain as a military dictator for nearly 40 years. This led to the country undergoing a complex process that included a series of political, social and historical changes, gradually transforming the Francoist regime into a democratic state.
The Constitution was redacted, debated and approved by the constituent assembly (Spanish: Cortes Constituyentes) that emerged from the 1977 general election. It then repealed all the Fundamental Laws of the Realm (i.e., the constitution of the Francoist regime), as well as other major historical laws and every pre-existing law that contradicted the new constitution.
Content summary
The Spanish Constitution is a written document that takes cues from both older Spanish constitutions and other then-current European constitutions. For example, it contains the provision for a constructive vote of no confidence, which was inspired by Germany's Basic Law.
The Constitution is organized in ten parts (Spanish: Títulos) and contains an additional introduction (Spanish: Título Preliminar), a preamble, several additional and interim provisions, a series of repeals, and it ends with a final provision.
- Part I refers to fundamental rights and duties, which receive special treatment and protection under Spanish law. Article 1 defines the Spanish state:
- Article 1.1 states that "Spain is established as a social and democratic state, subject to the rule of law, which advocates as the highest values of its legal order the following: liberty, justice, equality and political pluralism.
- Article 1.2 refers to national sovereignty, which is vested in the Spanish people, "from whom the powers of the State emanate".
- Article 1.3 establishes parliamentary monarchy as the "political form of the Spanish state".
- Part II refers to the regulation of the Crown and lays out the King's role in the Spanish state.
- Part III refers to the Cortes Generales (legislature).
- Part IV refers to the Government, the executive power, and the Public Administration, which is managed by the executive.
- Part V refers to the relations between the Government and the Cortes Generales, in which the Prime Minister (Spanish: Presidente del Gobierno) is invested by the legislature and the Government is responsible before the legislature.
- Part VI refers to the organization of the judicial power, establishing that justice emanates from the people and is administered on behalf of the king by judges and magistrates who are independent, irrevocable, liable and subject to the rule of law only.
- Part VII refers to the principles that shall guide the economy and the finances of the Spanish state, subjecting all the wealth in the country to the general interest and recognizing public initiative in the economy, while also protecting private property in the framework of a market economy. It also establishes the Court of Accounts and the principles that shall guide the approval of the state budget.
- Part VIII refers to the "territorial organization of the State" and establishes a unitary state that is nevertheless heavily decentralized through delegation and transfer of powers. The result is a de facto federal model, with some differences from federal states. This is referred to as an autonomous state (Spanish: Estado Autonómico) or state of the autonomies (Spanish: Estado de las Autonomías).
- Part IX refers to the Constitutional Court, which oversees the constitutionality of all laws and protects the fundamental rights enshrined in Part I.
- Part X refers to constitutional amendments, of which there have been only three since 1978 (in 1992, when Article #13 was reformed, in 2011, when Article #135 was reformed, and in 2024, when Article #49 was reformed).
History
The constitutional history of Spain dates back to the Constitution of 1812. After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, a general election in 1977 convened the Constituent Cortes (the Spanish Parliament, in its capacity as a constitutional assembly) for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution.
A seven-member panel was selected among the elected members of the Cortes to work on a draft of the Constitution to be submitted to the body. These came to be known, as the media put it, as the padres de la Constitución or "fathers of the Constitution". The seven people were chosen to represent the wide (and often, deeply divided) political spectrum within the Spanish Parliament, while the leading role was given to then ruling party and now defunct Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD).
The members included:
- Gabriel Cisneros (UCD)
- José Pedro Pérez-Llorca (UCD)
- Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón (UCD)
- Miquel Roca i Junyent (CDC)
- Manuel Fraga Iribarne (AP)
- Gregorio Peces-Barba (PSOE)
- Jordi Solé Tura (PSUC)
The writer (and Senator by Royal appointment) Camilo José Cela later polished the draft Constitution's wording. However, since much of the consensus depended on keeping the wording ambiguous, few of Cela's proposed re-wordings were approved. One of those accepted was the substitution of the archaic gualda ("weld-colored") for the plain amarillo (yellow) in the description of the flag of Spain.
The constitution was approved by the Cortes Generales on 31 October 1978, and by the Spanish people in a referendum on 6 December 1978. 91.81% of voters supported the new constitution. Finally, it was sanctioned by King Juan Carlos on 27 December in a ceremony in the presence of parliamentarians. It came into effect on 29 December, the day it was published in the Official Gazette.
Constitution Day (Spanish: Día de la Constitución) on 6 December has since been a national holiday in Spain.
Content in-depth
The Constitution contains 169 articles as well as a number of additional and transitory provisions.
Notably, the Constitution also formally repealed several important Spanish laws related the political history of the country: the Laws of 25 October 1839 and 21 July 1876, related to the Basque fueros and the aftermath of the Carlist Wars, as well as all of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm were repealed. It also supersedes the Law of 4 January 1977, on Political Reform, which was conceived as a temporary mechanism to loosen restrictions on fundamental rights inherited from the Francoist period.
Preamble
Traditionally, writing the preamble to the constitution was considered an honour, and a task requiring great literary ability. The person chosen for this purpose was Enrique Tierno Galván. The full text of the preamble may be translated as follows:
Preliminary Title
As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution does not formally state that Spain is a federation (nor a unitary state), actual power shows, depending on the issue considered, widely varying grades of decentralization, ranging from the quasi-confederal status of tax management in Navarre and the Basque Country to the total centralization in airport management.
Part I: fundamental rights and duties
Part I of the Spanish Constitution encompasses Sections 10 to 55, establishing fundamental rights and duties. The scope of the rights recognised by the text is the largest in Spanish constitutional history. Scholars deem the enumeration open insofar as new rights can be included under the principle of human dignity as a foundation of the political order and social peace (Section 10). This can be achieved by means of constitutional reform, jurisprudential developments or the ratification of new international treaties.
The effect of fundamental rights is twofold. They are subjective rights to be exercised both individually and collectively. In addition to this, they are a binding principle for all public authorities, which allows for peaceful coexistence and legitimates the political and social order.
Chapter One: Spaniards and Aliens
Chapter One deals with the entitlement of constitutional rights. Section 11 provides for the regulation by statute of Spanish nationality whilst providing for its inalienability for Spaniards. Section 12 establishes the age of majority in Spain at 18. Section 13 limits the entitlement of public freedoms to aliens to the provisions of statutes and international treaties.
Legal persons are entitled to a reduced array of rights, among which the right of association, the right to honour, the right to due process of law, freedom of speech and the inviolability of the home are included.
Chapter Two: Rights and Freedoms
Chapter Two begins with Section 14, an equal rights clause.
Section One (Sections 15 to 29) includes an enumeration of fundamental rights and public freedoms. This section is entrenched, meaning it is extremely difficult to modify or repeal, in order to prevent the establishment of a legal dictatorship via constitutional amendment. Furthermore, an individual can request the protection of a justice court if any of these rights are infringed.
Individual rights include the right to life (Section 15), freedom of conscience (Section 16), right to freedom and security (Section 17), honour, privacy and inviolability of the home (Section 18), freedom of movement and residence (Section 19), and freedom of speech (Section 20). The list of collective rights include the right of assembly (Section 21), right of association (Section 22), right of suffrage (Section 23), right to education (Section 27) and the right to strike (Section 28). The due process of law is covered by Sections 24 to 26.
Section Two of Chapter Two (Sections 30 to 38) includes a list of civic rights and duties. Section 30 includes military duties with guarantees and alternatives for conscientious objectors (this section has been inactive since 2002). Section 31 establishes a progressive and non-confiscatory tax system. The principles of family law are laid out in Section 32. Chapter Two also deals with the right to property (Section 33), to create foundations (Section 34), to work (Section 35), to create professional associations (Section 36) and to collective bargaining (Section 37). This Section also guarantees economic freedom and calls for a market economy which can be subject to government planning (Section 38).
Chapter Three: Governing Principles of Economic and Social Policy
Chapter Three includes Sections 39 to 52. They lay out the foundations of the Spanish welfare state in accordance with the constitutional mandate for a social state (Section 1) and for effective freedom and equality and societal integration for all citizens and collectives (Section 9, Part 2). It includes provisions for a public pension system, a social security system, public healthcare and cultural rights.
Chapter Four: Guarantees for Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
Chapter Four includes a series of guarantees for fundamental rights. Section 53 limits the regulation of all rights in Chapter Two and Chapter Three to statutory law, which excludes administrative regulation (reglamentos). These statutes must respect the essential content of said rights. The fundamental rights and public freedoms included in Section One of Chapter Two can be invoked directly, and they ought to be regulated by means of Organic Law (which ensures greater political consensus). The creation of this statute cannot be delegated to the executive power.
Section 54 calls for the creation of an Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo), accountable to the legislative power, the Cortes Generales. It acts as a supervisor of administrative activity. In addition to this, it has standing before the Constitutional Court to lodge unconstitutionality appeals and individual appeals for protection (recurso de amparo).
Sections 14 to 29 and Section 30, Part 2, enjoy the right to a preferential and summary procedure in the ordinary courts. Once this procedure is exhausted, citizens may lodge an individual appeal for protection (recurso de amparo), a last instance unique to Spanish constitutional law and created in 1978 that, once exhausted, allows for an appeal before the European Court of Human Rights. This scope of additional protection reinforces the guarantees of the due process of law, including the process of habeas corpus.
In addition to this, the Prime Minister, the Ombudsman, 50 members of the Congress of Deputies, 50 Senators, and regional governments and legislative assemblies may lodge unconstitutionality appeals before the Constitutional Court.