Cadiz Courts & The Constitution of 1812: Key Reforms
Cadiz Courts and the Constitution of 1812
Las Cortes de Cadiz
The elections during the war led to the assembly of the Cortes on October 24, 1810, with a majority of bourgeois elements from the commercial cities along the coast (only nine nobles and three bishops were present). Two opposing groups soon emerged:
- Liberals: Supporters of revolutionary reforms, inspired by the principles of the French Revolution.
- Absolutists (or “serviles”): In favor of maintaining the Old Regime.
The Liberal majority in Parliament advocated for two main objectives: reforms to dismantle the structures of the Ancien Régime and the adoption of a constitution that would transform the country’s political system, rejecting absolutism and the monarchy of divine right, as declared in the first decree issued at the behest of the liberal priest Diego Muñoz Torrero.
Major reforms adopted by the Cortes of Cadiz included:
- Freedom of Printing and suppression of censorship (1810)
- Abolition of the seigneurial regime (1811). However, the nobility retained ownership of almost all their lands.
- Suppression of the Inquisition (1813)
- Abolition of guilds and economic freedom in trade, labor, and manufacturing (1813)
- Removal of the privileges of the Mesta (1813)
- Confiscation of assets of the Military Orders and the Jesuits (1813)
The Constitution of 1812
Approved on March 19, 1812, and popularly known as “La Pepa,” it became the first liberal constitution in Spanish history. It was primarily developed by members such as Agustín Argüelles, Diego Muñoz Torrero, and Evaristo Perez de Castro.
The fundamentals of the Constitution are:
- Principle of National Sovereignty: Power resides in the nation, delegating it to elected representatives through voting.
- Division of Powers:
- The legislative power is vested in a unicameral Parliament, with deputies elected by universal suffrage (indirectly, in four stages), including citizens of the American colonies.
- The judicial power resides in the courts of justice.
- Executive power is vested in the King, but with significant limitations:
- Their decisions must be validated by the relevant Minister.
- The King cannot dissolve the Cortes.
- The King has a temporary suspensory veto for two years on any law. After that time, the decision of the Parliament becomes law.
- The King appoints ministers, but they must be countersigned by the Courts (“double trust”).
- The King cannot marry without the consent of the Courts.
- The King cannot make their own alliances or international trade agreements.
- The King loses their judicial functions and authority to levy taxes.
- Equality of citizens before the law: Supposed to eliminate differences and feudal privileges.
- Recognition of a series of individual rights: to education, freedom of the press, inviolability of domicile, and the right to private property.
- Proclamation of Catholicism as the only permitted religious denomination. This decision was required due to the need for the clergy’s support in the fight against the French. Slavery was not abolished.
- Reorganization of the army by establishing conscription and creating a standing army and a national militia to defend the Constitution.
The Constitution was in effect between March 1812 and March 1814, January 1820 and November 1823, and August 1836 and June 1837.