- Fuero
"Fuero" (Spanish) is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from
Latin "forum", an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the (French) word "foire" and the (Portuguese) words "foral ", "forais" and "foro"; all of these words have related, but somewhat different, meanings.The (Spanish) "fuero" has a wide range of meanings, depending upon its context. It has meant a compilation of laws, especially a local or regional one; a set of laws specific to an identified class or estate (for example "fuero militar", comparable to a military code of justice or "fuero eclesiástico", specific to the Church). In many of these senses, its equivalent in the Anglo-Saxon world would be the "
charter "."Fuero" dates back to the
feudal era: a "fuero" could be conceded or acknowledged by thelord to certain groups or communities, most notably theRoman Catholic Church , the military, and certain regions that fell under the same monarchy as Castile or, later,Spain , but were not fully integrated into those countries.The relations among "fueros", other bodies of law (including the role of precedent), and
sovereignty is a contentious one that echoes down to the present day. The various Basque provinces generally regarded their "fueros" as tantamount to aconstitution , a view that has been accepted by others, includingPresident of the United States John Adams , who cited theBiscay an "fueros" as a precedent for theUnited States Constitution . (Adams, "A defense…", 1786) This view regards "fueros" as granting or acknowledgingright s. In the contrasting view, "fueros" wereprivilege s granted by amonarch .In practice, distinct "fueros" for specific classes, estates, towns, or regions usually arose out of feudal power politics, and (depending on one's point of view) were wrested from the monarch in exchange for the general acknowledgement of his or her authority, were granted by the monarch to reward loyal subjection, or (especially in the case of towns or regions) simply acknowledged distinct legal traditions.
In medieval Castilian law, the king could assign privileges to certain groups. The classic example is the Roman Catholic Church; the clergy did not pay taxes to the state, enjoyed the income via
tithes of local landholding, and were not subject to the civilcourt s: church-operated ecclesiastical courts tried churchmen for criminal offenses. The powerfulMesta organization, composed of wealthy sheepherders, enjoyed vastgrazing rights inAndalusia after that land was "reconquered" from the Muslims ("seeReconquista "). Lyle N. McAlister writes in "Spain and Portugal in the New World" that the Mesta's "fuero" helped impede the economic development of southernSpain , creating the pressure that encouraged Spaniards to emigrate to theNew World .The military had similar "fueros"; the situation was not unlike the distinction of
military law today. It has been argued that the military "fuero" is part of the military culture ofLatin America , which has been partially blamed for the various militarycoup d'etat s of the 20th century.During the Reconquista, the feudal lords granted "fueros" to some "
villa s" and cities, to encourage the repopulation of thefrontier and of commercial routes.These laws regulated the governance and the penal, process and civil aspects of the places. Often the "fueros" already codified for one place were granted to another, with small changes, instead of crafting a new redaction from scratch.In the twentieth century,
Francisco Franco 's regime used the term "fueros" for several of the fundamental laws (as in "Fuero de los Españoles ", issuedJuly 17 ,1945 ). The term implied these were not constitutions subject to debate and change by a sovereign people, but bills granted by the only legitimate source of authority, as in feudal times.Regional Charters
In contemporary Spanish usage, the word "fueros" most often refers to the historic and contemporary "fueros" or charters of certain regions, especially of the Basque regions.
In the last days of the
Western Roman Empire , the Basques are supposed to have played a prominent role in the "Bagaudae " (peasant revolts resisting the dawn of feudalism). The Basques successfully maintained their independence from theGermanic tribe s such as theGoths , forming theDuchy of Vasconia (centered in present-dayGascony and dynastically connected to the Duchy ofAquitaine ). As theMuslims invaded theIberian Peninsula , Vasconia and Aquitaine sought the aid ofCharlemagne and subsequent Carolingian monarchs, resulting in a certain amount of assimilation; however, during this period, a bit to the south, a new Basque nucleus grew, in the form of the Kingdom ofPamplona , later known as theKingdom of Navarre . Navarrese law developed along less feudal lines than those of surrounding countries. In 1234 when the first foreign king the french Theobald I of Champagne arrived didn't know navarrese common law and it was necessary a commission to write it; that was the first fuero.Castile absorbed Navarre between 1512 and 1526 (up to the summit of the
Pyrenees ). In order to gain Navarrese loyalty, "fueros" were granted allowing the region to continue to function under its historic laws. (Meanwhile, northern Navarre became increasingly tied toFrance , a process completed when a Navarrese prince became King Henry IV of France.) Although not without conflicts, until the era of theFrench Revolution on both sides of the Pyrenees quasi-independent Basque regions successfully maintained their "fueros".Every
Biscay ne orGuipuscoa n was a born hidalgo (gentry), thus free of torture and to serve in the army. ("Don Quixote "' sSancho Panza remarked humorously that writing and reading and being Biscayne was enough to be secretary to the emperor).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 theSpanish Inquisition , the only cross-kingdom tribunal of his domains. Pérez escaped again to France, but Philip's army invaded Aragon and executed its authorities.The Inquisition however had frequent conflicts of jurisdiction with local civil authorities and bishops" [http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/74536 Inquisición] " at theAuñamendi Encyclopedia .] .However, the Revolution brought the rise of the centralized
nation state (also referred to in a Spanish context as "unitarianism", unrelated to the religion of the same name). Whereas theAncien Régime had allowed for regional privileges, the new order did not allow for such autonomy. The jigsaw puzzle of fiefs was rationalized into "département s", based on administrative and economic concerns, not tradition.During the two centuries following the French Revolution and the
Napoleon ic Era, the level of autonomy for the Basque regions within Spain has varied. The cry for "fueros" (meaning regional autonomy) was one of the demands of the Carlists of the 19th century, hence the strong support for Carlism from the Basque Country and (especially in theFirst Carlist War ) inCatalonia andAragón . Thus, the Carlist effort to restoreabsolute monarchy was sustained militarily mainly by those whom "fueros" had protected from the full weight of absolutism. The defeat of the Carlists in three successive wars resulted in continuing erosion of traditional Basque privileges.The Carlist land-based small nobility ("
jauntxo ") lost power to the newbourgeois ie, who welcome the extension of Spanishcustoms borders from theEbro to the Pyrenees. The new borders protected the fledging Basque industry from foreign competition and opened the Spanish market.The new class negotiated the "
Ley Paccionada " (in Navarre), which granted a substantial autonomy to the provincial governments within the Spanish state.Sabino Arana , founder of the Basque Nationalist Party, came from a Carlist background.He rejected the Spanish monarchy and foundedBasque nationalism on the basis of Catholicism and "fueros" (in old Basque, "Fueroac"; Standard Basque, "Foruak"; Arana's neologism, "Lagi-Zaŕa", "Old law").The high-water mark of a restoration of Basque autonomy in recent times came under the
Second Spanish Republic . This led the Basque nationalists to support the left-leaning Republic as ardently as they had earlier supported the right-wing Carlists (note, however, that contemporaryCarlists supportedFrancisco Franco ). The defeat of the Republic by the forces ofFrancisco Franco led, in turn, to a suppression of differential Basque culture, including banning the public use of theBasque language .The Franco regime considered
Biscay andGuipúzcoa as "traitor provinces" and cancelled their "fueros". However the pro-Franco provinces ofÁlava andNavarre 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 own .taxesThe post-Franco
Spanish Constitution of 1978 acknowledges "historical rights" and attempts compromise in the old conflict between centralism andfederalism by the establishment of autonomous communities (such asCastile and León ,Catalonia , Valencia, etc.). The provincial governments ("diputación foral") were restored, but many of their powers were transferred to the new government of the Basque Country autonomous community, though the provinces still perform tax collection in their respective territories, coordinating with the Basque, Spanish and European governments.Today, the act regulating the powers of the government of
Navarre is the "Amejoramiento del Fuero" ("Betterment of the Fuero"), and the official name of Navarre is "Comunidad Foral de Navarra", "foral" being the adjectival form of "fuero".The "fuerismo" of the 19th century called for autonomy within Spain. Today, Alavese "foralismo" strengthens the Alavese identity against what it considers excesses of Basque nationalism.
Private law
While Fueros have disappeared from Spanish administrative law (except for the Basque Country and Navarre), there are remnants of the old laws in
family law . When the Civil Code was established in Spain (1888) some parts of it did not run in some regions. In places like Galicia and Catalonia, themarriage contract s andinheritance are still governed by local laws.This has led to peculiar forms of land distribution.These laws are not uniform. For example, in Biscay, different rules regulate inheritance in the "
villa "s, than in the country towns ("tierra llana"). Modern jurists try to modernize the foral family laws while keeping with their spirit.ome fueros
*
Fueros of Navarre
*Fors de Bearn
*Furs de Valencia Fueros as Catholic teaching
Catholic Social teaching espouses
subsidiarity , very similar to fueros. Some Carlists claim fueros are simply another name for subsidiarity.Notes
References
* Adams, John [http://www.constitution.org/jadams/ja1_04.htm A defense of the constitutions of government of the United States of America] (1786) The Biscayan Fueros are discussed in his letter IV.
* Llorente, Juan Antonio [http://www.euskadi.net/q56/q56ControladorServlet?mapping=detalleMonografia.do&accion=2&idObjeto=2105350&idLibro=09600009808 "Noticias históricas de las tres provincias vascongadas] . Tomo II, Capitulo I." (1800) Available (in Spanish) online through the Digital Library of theSancho El Sabio Foundation .
* McAlister, Lyle N., "Spain and Portugal in the New World". 1984, Univ of Minnesota Press, ISBN 0-8166-1216-1.
* [http://www.cfnavarra.es/FUEROSEXPO/ "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 in the Spanish-language Wikipedia; last updated from the version dated 11:44 23 Sep, 2004.
* [http://www.geocities.com/urunuela24/rioja-abierta/rioja-abierta.htm Fueros de la Rioja] , a collection of the local Medieval charters of several towns in La Rioja, in old Castilian or Latin.
* [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=fuero&TIPO_HTML=2&FORMATO=ampliado&TIPO_BUS=3 Fuero] at the Dictionary of theReal Academia Española .External links
* A digitized version of
Amalio Marichalar , Marqués de Montesa, " [http://www.bne.es/cgi-bin/wsirtex?FOR=WBNBIBT1&VIS=W01BIMO&FMT=WBNARIA&ITE=0004701272289 Historia de la legislación y recitaciones del derecho civil de España : Fueros de Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa y Alava] ", 2ª ed. corr. y aum., ("History of the legislation and recitations of the civil law of Spain; 2nd edition corrected and augmented") Madrid : [s.n.] , 1868 (Impr. de los Sres. Gasset, Loma y compañia) p.; 8º mayr is available on the site of theBiblioteca Nacional Española .
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