Spanish Constitution of 1978

Spain’s supreme law, approved by referendum in 1978, established parliamentary democracy, fundamental rights, and a framework for regional autonomy.

Parliamentary system: A form of government in which the executive depends on the confidence of the legislature. The Constitution made the government answerable to parliament rather than directly elected as an executive.
Spanish transition to democracy: Spain’s shift from Francoist dictatorship to parliamentary democracy after Francisco Franco’s death in 1975. The Constitution was the central legal settlement of this transition.
Investiture vote: A parliamentary vote that determines whether a candidate can become head of government. The Congress of Deputies elects the prime minister through this constitutional procedure.
Statute of Autonomy: A basic institutional law defining an autonomous community’s powers and institutions within Spain’s constitutional system. The Constitution made these statutes the instruments for establishing regional self-government.
Constitutional monarchy: A monarchy in which the monarch’s powers are limited by a constitution and exercised within a constitutional system. It retained the crown while defining the monarch’s role within parliamentary democracy.
Francoist Spain: The authoritarian regime that governed Spain under Francisco Franco from the Spanish Civil War’s end until 1975. The Constitution repudiated dictatorship by establishing representative government and protected rights.
Royal assent: The formal approval by a monarch required for a bill to become law in some constitutional systems. The monarch promulgates laws under the Constitution, a formal role within parliamentary legislation.
Basque Country: A Spanish autonomous community in the north, with distinct institutions and a constitutionally recognized historical fiscal regime. Its self-government and fiscal arrangements developed within the Constitution’s autonomy framework.
Cortes Generales: Spain’s national parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The Constitution assigns national legislative power to these two chambers.
Spanish constituent legislature: The elected Spanish parliament that drafted and approved the 1978 Constitution. Its members negotiated the constitutional text after the 1977 general election.

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