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The Catalan constitutions (Catalan: Constitucions catalanes, [kunstitusiˈons kətəˈɫanəs]) were the laws promulgated by the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona and approved by the Catalan Courts. The Corts in Catalan have the same origin as courts in English (the sovereign's councillors or retinue) but instead meaning the legislature. The first constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Corts of 1705. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules 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.
Contents
Origin: The Corts of Barcelona
The first compilation was prescribed by Ferdinand I of Aragon, and suggestion by the Corts of Barcelona from 1413. It spread in edition of the 1495, together with the Usages of Barcelona:
The compilations agreed in the Corts of 1585 and of 1702 were published in three volumes:
De jure abolition: Els Decrets de Nova Planta
Shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V of Spain issued the set of decrees known in Spanish as the Decretos de Nueva Planta and in Catalan as the Decrets de Nova Planta. This series of decrees abolished the separate laws of the territories that supported his rival to the throne, the Archduke Charles of Austria; this included all territories of the Crown of Aragon. The Decretos attempted to make Spain into a centralized state 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 Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (with the exception of Menorca, a British colony at the time).
Thus, the Catalan Constitutions were effectively abolished by the King's authority after his military victory, rather than through any legislative process within Catalonia itself. The change ignored the Catalan Constitutions' own provisions for how they were to be amended or reformed.
Restoration promise: The Third Carlist War
During the Third Carlist War (1872-1876), the Carlist forces managed to occupy some cities in the Catalan interior. 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. Carlos María de los Dolores finally departed for France, 27 February 1876, the same day that Alfonso XII of Spain entered Pamplona.