Spanish Constitution | |
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Created | 31 October 1978 |
Ratified | 6 December 1978 |
Date effective | 29 December 1978 |
System | Parliamentary monarchy |
Government structure | |
Branches | 3 |
Head of state | King |
Chambers | Bicameral |
Executive | Government |
Judiciary | Supreme Court of Spain Audiencia Nacional High courts of justice Court of Auditors Prosecution Ministry |
History | |
Amendments | 3 |
Last amended | 27 September 2011 |
Location | Congress of Deputies |
Author(s) | |
Full text | |
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The Spanish Constitution (Spanish: Constitución Española)[a] is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval 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".[1] 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 It then repealed all the Fundamental Laws of the Realm (i.e., the constitution of the Francoist regime), as well as other major historical laws and every pre-existing law that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.
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