Fuero
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Fuero (Spanish: [ˈfweɾo]), Fur (Catalan: [ˈfur]), Foro (Galician: [ˈfɔɾʊ]) or Foru (Basque: [foɾu]) is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms for and foire, and the Portuguese terms foro and foral; all of these words have related, but somewhat different meanings.
The
In the 20th century, Francisco Franco's regime used the term fueros for several of the fundamental laws. The term implied these were not constitutions subject to debate and change by a sovereign people, but orders from the only legitimate source of authority, as in feudal times.
Characteristics
Fuero dates back to the medieval period: the
The relations among fueros, other bodies of law (including the role of precedent), and
In practice, distinct fueros for specific classes, estates, towns, or regions usually arose out of feudal power politics. Some historians believe monarchs were forced to concede some traditions in exchange for the general acknowledgment of his or her authority, that monarchs granted fueros to reward loyal subjection, or (especially in the case of towns or regions) the monarch simply acknowledged distinct legal traditions.
In medieval Castilian law, the king could assign privileges to certain groups. The classic example of such a privileged group was the Roman Catholic Church: the clergy did not pay taxes to the state, enjoyed the income via
Aristocratic fueros
During the Reconquista, the feudal lords granted fueros to some
List of aristocratic fueros
Date |
Grantor(s) Alfonso VII Íñigo Jiménez Osorio Martínez and Teresa Fernández María Fernández Manrique Pérez de Lara Martín and Elvira Pérez Sancha Ponce Ponce de Minerva Gonzalo, Constanza and Jimena Osorio Pedro Pérez and Fernando Cídez Ermengol VII of Urgell Gutierre Díaz Froila Ramírez and Sancha |
Grantee(s) |
Basque and Pyrenean fueros
Approach
In contemporary Spanish usage, the word fueros most often refers to the historic and contemporary fueros or charters of certain regions, especially of the
The whole central and western Pyrenean region was
Two sayings address this legal idiosyncrasy: "en Navarra hubo antes leyes que reyes," and "en Aragón antes que rey hubo ley," both meaning that law developed and existed before the kings. The force of these principles required monarchs to accommodate to the laws. This situation sometimes strained relations between the monarch and the kingdom, especially if the monarchs were alien to native laws.
This tradition of "laws before kings" was enshrined in the legendary
Fueros in the High and Late Middle Ages
The Fueros de Sobrarbe first appear mentioned in the context of the ascension of the House of Champagne to the Navarrese throne. In 1234, when Theobald I of Champagne inherited the Navarrese throne from his uncle Sancho VII of Navarre, he was pressured by burgers and nobility alike to swear he would abide his decisions by customary law and honour their customary rights and privileges. As a result, Theobald I appointed a commission to codify said laws; this resulted in the first written general fuero, the Fuero General de Navarra, enacted in 1238 and which drew its legal foundation from the fabled Fueros of Sobrarbe to justify the king's authority being subjected to the Fuero.
The accession of French lineages to the throne of Navarre brought a relationship between the king and the kingdom that was alien to the Basques. The resulting disagreements were a major factor in the 13th-century uprisings and clashes between different factions and communities, e.g. the borough wars of Pamplona. The loyalty of the Basques (the Navarri) to the king was conditioned on his upholding the traditions and customs of the kingdom, which were based on oral laws.
Relations with the crown and rise of absolutism
Since the high Middle Ages, many
The Castilian kings took an oath to comply with the Basque laws in the different provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. These provinces and Navarre kept their self-governing bodies and their own parliaments, i.e. the diputaciones and the
Despite vowing loyalty to the crown, the Pyrenean Aragonese and Catalans kept their separate specific laws too, the "King of the Spains" represented a crown tying together different realms and peoples, as claimed by the Navarrese diputación, as well as the Parliament of Navarre's last trustee.[3]: 45 The Aragonese fueros were an obstacle for Philip II when his former secretary Antonio Pérez escaped the death penalty by fleeing to Aragon. The king's only means to enforce the sentence was the Spanish Inquisition, the only cross-kingdom tribunal of his domains. There were frequent conflicts of jurisdiction between the Spanish Inquisition and regional civil authorities and bishops.[7] Pérez escaped to France, but Philip's army invaded Aragon and executed its authorities.
In 1714 the Catalan and Aragonese specific laws and self-government were violently suppressed. The Aragonese count of Robres, one strongly opposing the abolition, put it down to Castilian centralism, stating that the royal prime minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, had at last a free rein "for the kings of Spain to be independent of all laws save those of their own conscience."[8]
The Basques managed to retain their specific status for a few years after 1714, as they had supported the claimant who became
The end of the fueros in Spain
The 1789 Revolution brought the rise of the Jacobin
Some Basques saw a way forward in the 1808
During the two centuries since the French Revolution and the
The Carlist land-based small nobility (jauntxos) lost power to the new
to the Pyrenees. The new borders protected the fledgling Basque industry from foreign competition and opened the Spanish market, but lost opportunities abroad since customs were imposed on the Pyrenees and the coast.Echoes of the fueros after suppression in Spain
After the
Despite capitulation agreements acknowledging specific administrative and economic prerogatives, attempts of the Spanish government to bypass them spread malaise and anger in the Basque districts, ultimately leading to the 1893–94 Gamazada uprising in Navarre. Sabino Arana bore witness to the popular revolt as a Biscayne envoy to the protests.
The enthusiasm raised by the popular revolt in Navarre against the breach of war ending agreements made a deep impact on Sabino Arana, who went on to found the
The high-water mark of a restoration of Basque autonomy in recent times came under the
The Franco regime considered Biscay and Gipuzkoa as "traitor provinces" and cancelled their fueros. However, the pro-Franco provinces of Álava and Navarre maintained a degree of autonomy unknown in the rest of Spain, with local telephone companies, provincial limited-bailiwick police forces (miñones in Alava, and Foral Police in Navarre), road works and some taxes to support local government.
The post-Franco
After the
However, the provincial chartered governments (Diputación Foral / Foru Aldundia) in the Basque districts were restored, getting back significant powers. Other powers held historically by the chartered governments ("Diputación") were transferred to the new government of the Basque Country autonomous community. The Basque provinces still perform tax collection in their respective territories, coordinating with the Basque/Navarrese, Spanish, as well as European governments.
Today, the act regulating the powers of the government of
Private law
While fueros have disappeared from administrative law in Spain, (except for the Basque Country and Navarre), there are remnants of the old laws in
These laws are not uniform. For example, in Biscay, different rules regulate inheritance in the villas, than in the country towns (tierra llana). Modern jurists try to modernize the foral family laws while keeping with their spirit.
Fueros in Spanish America
During the colonial era in Spanish America, the Spanish Empire extended fueros to the clergy, the fuero eclesiástico. The crown attempted to curtail the fuero eclesiástico, which gave the lower secular (diocesan) clergy privileges that separated them legally from their plebeian parishioners. The curtailment of the fuero has been seen as a reason why so many clerics participated in the Mexican War of Independence, including insurgency leaders Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos. Removal of the fuero was seen by the Church as another act of the Bourbon Reforms that alienated the Mexican population, including American-born Spaniards.[10]
In the eighteenth century, when Spain established a standing military in key areas of its overseas territory, privileges were extended to the military, the fuero militar, which had an impact on the colonial legal system and society.[11] The fuero militar was the first time that privileges extended to plebeians, which has been argued was a cause of debasing justice.[12] Indigenous men were excluded from the military, and inter-ethnic conflicts occurred.[13] The fuero militar presented some contradictions in colonial rule.[14][15]
In post-independence Mexico, formerly
For post-independence Chile, the fuero militar also was an issue concerning the rights and privileges of citizenship.[16]
List of fueros
- Fueros of Navarre
- Fors de Bearn
- Furs de Valencia
- Fuero de Oreja
Notes
- ^ Adams, John A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1786) The Biscayan Fueros are discussed in his letter IV.
- ISBN 0-8166-1216-1.
- ^ Note that Biscayne during this period holds an ambiguous meaning, it often refers to the Basques in general.
- ^ ISBN 0631175652.
- ^ Inquisición at the Auñamendi Encyclopedia.
- ISBN 0-30008-718-7. Retrieved 16 November 2013., p. 222
- ^ ISBN 978-84-7681-478-9.
- ISBN 978-0485131215
- S2CID 147578712.
- ISBN 978-1258418892
- S2CID 145494084.
- JSTOR 25675617.
- JSTOR 493419.
- S2CID 126534661.
References
- Llorente, Juan Antonio Noticias históricas de las tres provincias vascongadas. Tomo II, Capitulo I. (1800) Available (in Spanish) online through the Digital Library of the Sancho El Sabio Foundation.
- "Los Fueros de Navarra: Exposición" - discussion of fueros on the official web site of the Navarrese government (in Spanish).
- Much of the discussion of the Basque fueros comes from es:Nacionalismo vasco in the Spanish-language Wikipedia; last updated from the version dated 11:44 23 Sep, 2004.
- Fueros de la Rioja, a collection of the local Medieval charters of several towns in La Rioja, in old Castilian or Latin.
- Fuero at the Dictionary of the Real Academia Española.
Further reading
- Barrero García, Ana María (1989). "El Derecho local en la Edad Media y su formulación por los reyes castellanos". Anales de la Universidad de Chile. 5 (20): 105–130.
- Barrero García, Ana María y Alonso Martín, María Luz (1989). Textos de Derecho local español en la Edad Media. Catálogo de Fueros y Costums municipales. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias Jurídicas. ISBN 84-00-06951-X.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Barrientos Grandon, Javier (1994). Introducción a la historia del Derecho chileno. I. Derechos propios y Derecho común en Castilla. Santiago: Barroco Libreros.
- García-Gallo, Alfonso (1956). "Aportación al estudio de los Fueros". Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español. 26. p 387-446.
External links
- A digitized version of Amalio Marichalar, Marqués de Biblioteca Nacional Española.