Catalan constitutions

Origins

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.^[4] 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 king himself stated: "We want, we statue and we order: if we and our successors want to make any general constitution or statute in Catalonia, we will submit them to the approval and consent of the prelates, of the barons, of the knights and of the citizens or, from those apellates, of the largest and healthiest part of those".^[5]

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")

The last constitutions were promulgated by the Courts of 1701-1702 and 1705–1706 during the disputed reigns of, respectively, Philip V (1701-1705) and Charles III (1705-1714), the Bourbon and Habsburg pretenders to the Spanish throne during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Those set of new constitutions represented an improvement in the guarantee of individual, civil and political rights (among them, the secrecy of correspondence),^[6] as well as the establishment of the Court of Contraventions (Catalan: Tribunal de Contrafaccions), in order to ensure the application of the constitutions and solve and prosecute any act (included the ones done by the king or his officers) contrary to the Catalan legislation.

De facto abolition: the Nueva Planta Decree

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 suppressed the separate laws and institutions 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.^[7] Therefore, the Decretos politically annexed the states of the Crown of Aragon to the Crown of Castile, attempting to make Spain into a centralized and absolutist monarchy on the model of France, applying most of 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 contractual legislation they could not be repealed unilaterally, therefore, the Decree left them without effect rather than abolishing them.^[8]

Restoration attempts

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.^[9]

During the Third Carlist War (1872–1876), Carlist forces managed to occupy some cities in the Catalan countryside. Isabel II was in exile and Amadeo I had reigned since 1871. The Carlist pretender Charles VII, grandson of the also pretender Carlos María Isidro, promised the Catalans, Valencians and Aragonese the return of their charters or fueros (Catalan: furs) and the constitutions that Philip V had previously suspended. The promise was never fulfilled, as the Carlist revolt did not succeed.

Catalan jurisdiction

"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.

Rule of law

"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.

Secret of correspondence

"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.