Misplaced Pages

Regalia of Spain

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

The Spanish Royal Crown may refer to either the heraldic crown , which does not exist physically, or the crown known as the corona tumular , a physical crown used during Spanish royal proclamation ceremonies since the 18th century. It is never worn by the monarch.

#10989

82-671: The last time the corona tumular was used at a public ceremony was in the Cortes Generales during the swearing-in of King Felipe VI on 19 June 2014 after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos I . Since July 2014, the royal crown and sceptre are on permanent public display for the first time ever in the so-called Crown Room at the Royal Palace of Madrid . The last Spanish monarchs being solemnly crowned were Juan I of Castile (1379), Fernando I of Aragon (1414), and Leonor of Navarre (1479). Joan III of Navarre

164-407: A member of parliament , or parliamentary republics , where a mostly ceremonial president is the head of state while the head of government is from the legislature. In a few countries, the head of government is also head of state but is elected by the legislature. In bicameral parliaments, the head of government is generally, though not always, a member of the lower house . Parliamentary democracy

246-618: A French invasion crushed the National Militia and restored absolutist rule in Spain. During the subsequent reaction, many liberals were forced into exile, many—ironically—ending up in France, but generally Ferdinand VII was less strident in his policies through the remainder of his reign. When the monarchy was overthrown in 1873, the king was forced into exile. The Senate was abolished because of its royally appointed nature. A republic

328-541: A King was 1188 Alfonso IX, King of Leon (Spain) convened the three states in the Cortes of León . The Corts of Catalonia were the first parliament of Europe that officially obtained the power to pass legislation, apart from the custom. An early example of parliamentary government developed in today's Netherlands and Belgium during the Dutch revolt (1581), when the sovereign, legislative and executive powers were taken over by

410-485: A change in power without an election, and for allowing elections at any time. Bagehot considered fixed-term elections such as the four-year election rule for presidents of the United States to be unnatural, as it can potentially allow a president who has disappointed the public with a dismal performance in the second year of his term to continue on until the end of his four-year term. Under a parliamentary system,

492-653: A definite election calendar can be abused. Under some systems, such as the British, a ruling party can schedule elections when it believes that it is likely to retain power, and so avoid elections at times of unpopularity. (From 2011, election timing in the UK was partially fixed under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 , which was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 .) Thus, by

574-472: A different party. In Canada and Australia, there are no restraints on legislators switching sides. In New Zealand, waka-jumping legislation provides that MPs who switch parties or are expelled from their party may be expelled from Parliament at the request of their former party's leader. A few parliamentary democracies such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand have weak or non-existent checks on

656-466: A directly elected lower house with the power to determine the executive government, and an upper house which may be appointed or elected through a different mechanism from the lower house. Scholars of democracy such as Arend Lijphart distinguish two types of parliamentary democracies: the Westminster and Consensus systems. Implementations of the parliamentary system can also differ as to how

738-489: A former monarchist Minister wary of the authoritarianism of the right, dissolved Parliament. The next election was held in 1936. It was hotly contested, with all parties converging into three coalitions: the leftist Popular Front , the right-winged National Front  [ es ] and a Centre coalition. In the end, the Popular Front won with a small edge in votes over the runner-up National Front, but achieved

820-653: A powerful president with an executive responsible to parliament: for example, the French Fifth Republic . Parliamentarianism may also apply to regional and local governments . An example is Oslo which has an executive council (Byråd) as a part of the parliamentary system. The devolved nations of the United Kingdom are also parliamentary and which, as with the UK Parliament , may hold early elections – this has only occurred with regards to

902-476: A prime minister that has lost support in the middle of his term can be easily replaced by his own peers with a more popular alternative, as the Conservative Party in the UK did with successive prime ministers David Cameron , Theresa May , Boris Johnson , Liz Truss , and Rishi Sunak . Although Bagehot praised parliamentary governments for allowing an election to take place at any time, the lack of

SECTION 10

#1732765017011

984-483: A rapid change in legislation and policy as long as there is a stable majority or coalition in parliament, allowing the government to have 'few legal limits on what it can do' When combined with first-past-the-post voting , this system produces the classic "Westminster model" with the twin virtues of strong but responsive party government. This electoral system providing a strong majority in the House of Commons, paired with

1066-516: A shrewd timing of elections, in a parliamentary system, a party can extend its rule for longer than is feasible in a presidential system. This problem can be alleviated somewhat by setting fixed dates for parliamentary elections, as is the case in several of Australia's state parliaments. In other systems, such as the Dutch and the Belgian, the ruling party or coalition has some flexibility in determining

1148-611: A solid majority due to the new electoral system introduced by the CEDA government hoping that they would get the edge in votes. The new Parliament then dismissed Alcalá-Zamora and installed Manuel Azaña in his place. During the third term, the extreme polarisation of the Spanish society was more evident than ever in Parliament, with confrontation reaching the level of death threats. The already bad political and social climate created by

1230-787: A stronger role for the Cortes but was crushed by the Constable 's royalist forces at the 1521 Battle of Villalar and then brutally suppressed. Reorganized, the corteses retained some power over the realm's finances—particularly in Aragon —but became limited to a consultative entity. By the reign of Philip II , the delegates of the Cortes of Castile were financially dependent on the Crown for their income. The Imperial Cortes and its deputation ( Spanish : Diputación General de Cortes ) primarily concerned themselves with overseeing previous agreements and

1312-513: A task because 208 out of 265 members of the Senate are elected by popular vote in each province, and only 58 are representatives appointed by the regional legislatures of autonomous communities. Proposals to reform the Senate have been discussed for at least ten years as of November 2007. One of the main themes of reform is to move towards a higher level of federalization and make the Senate a thorough representation of autonomous communities instead of

1394-486: A warning example of the flaws of parliamentary systems that if the United States had a parliamentary system, Donald Trump , as head of government, could have dissolved the United States Congress . The ability for strong parliamentary governments to push legislation through with the ease of fused power systems such as in the United Kingdom, whilst positive in allowing rapid adaptation when necessary e.g.

1476-524: Is partly directly elected in that four senators per province are elected as a general rule and partly appointed by the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities , one for each community and another one for every million inhabitants in their territory. Although the Senate was conceived as a territorial upper house, it has been argued by nationalist parties and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party that it does not accomplish such

1558-461: Is rather what is often criticized about presidential systems. Fontaine compares United Kingdom's Margaret Thatcher to the United States' Ronald Reagan noting the former head of government was much more powerful despite governing under a parliamentary system. The rise to power of Viktor Orbán in Hungary has been claimed to show how parliamentary systems can be subverted. The situation in Hungary

1640-528: Is remembered as one of the figures relevant later for convening two famous parliaments. The first , in 1258, stripped the king of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns . Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution and passage of

1722-503: Is the joyas de pasar collection, for the exclusive use of the Queen on solemn occasions. Cortes Generales Supported by (20) Opposition (153) Supported by (25) Opposition (178) The Cortes Generales ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkoɾtes xeneˈɾales] ; English: Spanish Parliament , lit.   'General Courts') are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain , consisting of

SECTION 20

#1732765017011

1804-554: Is the dominant form of government in the European Union , Oceania , and throughout the former British Empire , with other users scattered throughout Africa and Asia . A similar system, called a council–manager government , is used by many local governments in the United States . The first parliaments date back to Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest example of a parliament is disputed, especially depending how

1886-406: Is their ability to allow and accommodate more diverse viewpoints. He states that because "legislators are not compelled to vote against their constituents on matters of local concern, parties can serve as organizational and roll-call cuing vehicles without forcing out dissidents." All current parliamentary democracies see the indirect election or appointment of their head of government. As a result,

1968-403: Is usually, but not always, distinct from a ceremonial head of state . This is in contrast to a presidential system, which features a president who is not fully accountable to the legislature, and cannot be replaced by a simple majority vote. Countries with parliamentary systems may be constitutional monarchies , where a monarch is the head of state while the head of government is almost always

2050-552: The 1708 Scottish Militia Bill . Whilst both the UK and New Zealand have some Acts or parliamentary rules establishing supermajorities or additional legislative procedures for certain legislation, such as previously with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA), these can be bypassed through the enactment of another that amends or ignores these supermajorities away, such as with the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 – bypassing

2132-593: The Bill of Rights 1689 . In the Kingdom of Great Britain , the monarch, in theory, chaired the cabinet and chose ministers. In practice, King George I 's inability to speak English led to the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the leading minister, literally the prime or first minister, Robert Walpole . The gradual democratisation of parliament with the broadening of the voting franchise increased parliament's role in controlling government, and in deciding whom

2214-663: The Canary and Balearic archipelagos forms a different constituency in the Senate. As a parliamentary system , the Cortes confirm and dismiss the Prime Minister of Spain and their government ; specifically, the candidate for Prime Minister has to be invested by the Congress with a majority of affirmative votes. The Congress can also dismiss the Prime Minister through a vote of no confidence . The Cortes also hold

2296-755: The Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA) ( right ). Initially, only the Radical Party entered the Government, with the parliamentary support of the CEDA. However, in the middle of the term, several corruption scandals (among them the Straperlo and the Nombela affairs) sank the Radical Party and the CEDA entered the Government in 1934. This led to uprisings by some leftist parties that were quickly suffocated. In one of them,

2378-613: The Congress of Deputies (the lower house ) and the Senate (the upper house ). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes . The Senate meets in the Palacio del Senado . Both are in Madrid . The Cortes are elected through universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage , with the exception of some senatorial seats, which are elected indirectly by the legislatures of

2460-778: The First Austrian Republic . Nineteenth-century urbanisation , the Industrial Revolution and modernism had already made the parliamentarist demands of the Radicals and the emerging movement of social democrats increasingly impossible to ignore; these forces came to dominate many states that transitioned to parliamentarism, particularly in the French Third Republic where the Radical Party and its centre-left allies dominated

2542-578: The Iberian peninsula 's various kingdoms came to be known as cortes ( Castilian Spanish ) or corts ( Valencian Spanish ). They began as advisory councils made up of the most powerful nobles and the feudal lords closest to the king. General councils were convened in 873, 1020, 1050, and 1063. The 1188 Cortes of León convened by Alfonso IX is sometimes taken to mark the beginning of parliamentary bodies in Western Europe because it

Regalia of Spain - Misplaced Pages Continue

2624-927: The Irish Free State and the Union of South Africa . Some of these parliaments were reformed from, or were initially developed as distinct from their original British model: the Australian Senate , for instance, has since its inception more closely reflected the US Senate than the British House of Lords ; whereas since 1950 there is no upper house in New Zealand. Many of these countries such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have severed institutional ties to Great Britain by becoming republics with their own ceremonial Presidents, but retain

2706-689: The Nationalist faction , resulting in a bombing in May 1937. Francisco Franco did not prioritize the creation of a consultative or legislative type of assembly during his rule . In 1942, following the first symptoms of change in the international panorama in favour of the Allied Powers , a law established the Cortes Españolas (Spanish Cortes), a non-democratic chamber made up of more than 400 procuradores (singular procurador ). Both

2788-484: The Northern Ireland Assembly in 2017 and 2022 . A few parliamentary democratic nations such as India , Pakistan and Bangladesh have enacted laws that prohibit floor crossing or switching parties after the election. Under these laws, elected representatives will lose their seat in the parliament if they go against their party in votes. In the UK parliament, a member is free to cross over to

2870-607: The Reconquista , the growth of trade and an urbanized middle class ( Spanish : burguesía ) expanded their importance at the various corteses. The king retained the ability to call and dismiss the Cortes but tended to exchange fueros , further grants of privileges and autonomy, to the residents of certain cities in exchange for lump sum payments to meet military and other obligations. (Modern Navarre preserves certain rights and privileges in its current statute of autonomy directly derived from these fueros.) In some cases,

2952-635: The Spanish royal family today, such as headbands, tiaras, necklaces, decorations, etc., are strictly private, are not linked to any institution, and are considered the personal property of the corresponding member –be it the King as a private person, or some other relative–. In that condition, they were taken with them into exile in 1931 –with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic– and stayed out of Spain until 1975. Of special relevance

3034-712: The States General of the Netherlands from the monarch, King Philip II of Spain . Significant developments Kingdom of Great Britain , in particular in the period 1707 to 1800 and its contemporary, the Parliamentary System in Sweden between 1721 and 1772 , and later in Europe and elsewhere in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the expansion of like institutions, and beyond In England, Simon de Montfort

3116-483: The autonomous communities . The Cortes Generales are composed of 615 members: 350 Deputies and 265 Senators. The members of the Cortes Generales serve four-year terms, and they are representatives of the Spanish people. In both chambers, the seats are divided by constituencies that correspond with the fifty provinces of Spain, plus Ceuta and Melilla . However, each island or group of islands within

3198-490: The fused power system results in a particularly powerful government able to provide change and 'innovate'. The United Kingdom's fused power system is often noted to be advantageous with regard to accountability. The centralised government allows for more transparency as to where decisions originate from, this contrasts with the American system with Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon saying "the president blames Congress,

3280-803: The parliamentary constitutions of Italy and West Germany (now all of Germany) and the 1947 Constitution of Japan . The experiences of the war in the occupied nations where the legitimate democratic governments were allowed to return strengthened the public commitment to parliamentary principles; in Denmark , a new constitution was written in 1953, while a long and acrimonious debate in Norway resulted in no changes being made to that country's strongly entrenched democratic constitution . A parliamentary system may be either bicameral , with two chambers of parliament (or houses) or unicameral , with just one parliamentary chamber. A bicameral parliament usually consists of

3362-641: The 1490s but her grandson the Habsburg emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) was able to easily provide for Ferdinand Magellan 's 1519 expedition and then to pointedly sell away all of Spain's rights to the Spice Islands (now Indonesia 's Malukus ) without any consultation with the Toledo Cortes in 1529. The 1520 Revolt of the Comuneros had intended to reverse this trend and provide

Regalia of Spain - Misplaced Pages Continue

3444-578: The 2/3rd supermajority required for an early dissolution under the FTPA -, which enabled the early dissolution for the 2019 general election . Parliamentarism metrics allow a quantitative comparison of the strength of parliamentary systems for individual countries. One parliamentarism metric is the Parliamentary Powers Index. Parliamentary systems like that found in the United Kingdom are widely considered to be more flexible, allowing

3526-458: The Benelux countries require a sitting member of the legislature to resign such positions upon being appointed to the executive. Furthermore, there are variations as to what conditions exist (if any) for the government to have the right to dissolve the parliament: The parliamentary system can be contrasted with a presidential system which operates under a stricter separation of powers, whereby

3608-617: The Congress blames the president, and the public remains confused and disgusted with government in Washington". Furthermore, ministers of the U.K. cabinet are subject to weekly Question Periods in which their actions/policies are scrutinised; no such regular check on the government exists in the U.S. system. A 2001 World Bank study found that parliamentary systems are associated with less corruption. In his 1867 book The English Constitution , Walter Bagehot praised parliamentary governments for producing serious debates, for allowing for

3690-404: The Congress holds the power to ultimately override any decision of the Senate by a sufficient majority (usually an absolute majority or three-fifths majority ). The Congress is composed of 350 deputies (but that figure may change in the future as the constitution establishes a maximum of 400 and a minimum of 300) directly elected by universal suffrage approximately every four years. The Senate

3772-539: The Conservatives and Liberals would have alternating periods as the majority in the Cortes, with other parties restricted to a smaller number of seats. Soon after the Soviet revolution (1917), the Spanish political parties started polarizing, and the left-wing Communist Party (PCE) and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) blamed the Government for supposed election fraud in small towns ( caciquismo ), which

3854-503: The Cortes was able to independently select agents to act as permanent advisors to the king between its sessions. Beginning with the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand , monarchs' control over Spain's various kingdoms in personal union allowed them to curtail the power of the grandees and burghers. Queen Isabella initially had difficulty in securing funding for the voyages of Christopher Columbus in

3936-570: The Cortes was immediately set aside by Ferdinand upon his restoration in 1814. His conservative policies led to a series of military coups that culminated in Col.   Rafael del Riego forcing him to accept a more liberal constitution from 1820–1823, the Trienio Liberal ("Three Liberal Years"). Ferdinand vetoed nearly every law passed during the period and repeatedly asked other nations to invade and restore him to his previous authority. Finally,

4018-462: The Cortes' founding law and the subsequent regulations were based on the principles of rejection of parliamentarism and political pluralism. Members of the Cortes were not elected and exercised only symbolic power. It had no power over government spending, and the cabinet, appointed and dismissed by Franco alone, retained real legislative authority. In 1967, with the enaction of the Organic Law of

4100-481: The Republic had been backstabbed. Also, for the second time in Spanish history, some regions were granted autonomous governments within the unitary state. Many on the extreme right rose up with General José Sanjurjo in 1932 against the Government's social policies, but the coup was quickly defeated. The elections for the second term were held in 1933 and won by the coalition between the Radical Party ( center ) and

4182-487: The State , the accommodation of "two family representatives per province, elected by those on the electoral roll of family heads and married women" (the so-called tercio familiar ) ensued, opening a fraction of the Cortes' composition to some mechanisms of individual participation. The Cortes are a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house ( Congreso de los Diputados , congress of deputies ) and an upper house ( Senado , senate ). Although they share legislative power,

SECTION 50

#1732765017011

4264-427: The Westminster system of government. The idea of parliamentary accountability and responsible government spread with these systems. Democracy and parliamentarianism became increasingly prevalent in Europe in the years after World War I , partially imposed by the democratic victors, the United States, Great Britain and France, on the defeated countries and their successors, notably Germany's Weimar Republic and

4346-409: The autonomy of the Crown of Aragon . Philip also acted to repeal or curtail most of the diverse grants of autonomy and privilege ( fueros ) throughout his kingdom. Navarre was finally merged during the 1833 territorial division of Spain . With both the Bourbon monarchs Charles IV and Ferdinand VII having abdicated their throne and Napoleon Bonaparte having appointed his brother Joseph as

4428-412: The collection of taxes in Castile and the larger empire; separate deputations oversaw similar work in Aragon and Navarre. The corteses were able to regain some of their previous powers and influence during the 17th century, as repeated sovereign defaults reduced the monarchy to financial dependency and a series of deputies including the Count-Duke of Olivares oversaw most day-to-day government. Under

4510-475: The current system, which tries to incorporate the interests of province and autonomous communities at the same time. Parliamentary system A parliamentary system , or parliamentary democracy , is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legislature , to which they are held accountable. This head of government

4592-408: The election date. Conversely, flexibility in the timing of parliamentary elections can avoid periods of legislative gridlock that can occur in a fixed period presidential system. In any case, voters ultimately have the power to choose whether to vote for the ruling party or someone else. According to Arturo Fontaine , parliamentary systems in Europe have yielded very powerful heads of government which

4674-429: The electorate has limited power to remove or install the person or party wielding the most power. Although strategic voting may enable the party of the prime minister to be removed or empowered, this can be at the expense of voters first preferences in the many parliamentary systems utilising first past the post , or having no effect in dislodging those parties who consistently form part of a coalition government, as with

4756-491: The executive does not form part of—nor is appointed by—the parliamentary or legislative body. In such a system, parliaments or congresses do not select or dismiss heads of government, and governments cannot request an early dissolution as may be the case for parliaments (although the parliament may still be able to dissolve itself, as in the case of Cyprus ). There also exists the semi-presidential system that draws on both presidential systems and parliamentary systems by combining

4838-415: The following symbols displayed in front of him: The jewels exhibited solemnly in the royal proclamations and other collections traditionally linked to the Spanish Crown, such as the Treasure of the Dauphin  [ es ] –currently displayed at the Museo del Prado – or others kept in different places, are part of the National Heritage managed by Patrimonio Nacional . The jewels worn by members of

4920-429: The government for several decades. However, the rise of Fascism in the 1930s put an end to parliamentary democracy in Italy and Germany, among others. After the Second World War , the defeated fascist Axis powers were occupied by the victorious Allies . In those countries occupied by the Allied democracies (the United States , United Kingdom , and France ) parliamentary constitutions were implemented, resulting in

5002-419: The king could ask to form a government. By the 19th century, the Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who was prime minister and the complexion of the government. Other countries gradually adopted what came to be called the Westminster system of government, with an executive answerable to the lower house of a bicameral parliament, and exercising, in

SECTION 60

#1732765017011

5084-437: The left wing government of Catalonia, which had been granted home rule, formally rebelled against the central government, denying its power. This provoked the dissolution of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the imprisonment of their leaders. The leftist minority in the Cortes then pressed Alcalá Zamora for a dissolution, arguing that the uprising were the consequence of social rejection of the right-wing government. The President,

5166-500: The legislative power of their Parliaments, where any newly approved Act shall take precedence over all prior Acts. All laws are equally unentrenched, wherein judicial review may not outright annul nor amend them, as frequently occurs in other parliamentary systems like Germany . Whilst the head of state for both nations ( Monarch , and or Governor General ) has the de jure power to withhold assent to any bill passed by their Parliament, this check has not been exercised in Britain since

5248-432: The long-term left-right confrontation worsened, and many right-wing rebellions were started. Then, in 1936, the Army's failed coup degenerated into the Spanish Civil War , putting an end to the Second Republic. From November 1936 to October 1937, the Cortes were held at Valencia City Hall , which was still being used for its local purposes at the same time. The building was a target for the Italian Air Force in service of

5330-500: The mid-7th century placed the kings, Visigoths , and native Spanish under a single law and formed the basis of Spanish law through the medieval period. The Visigothic councils, however, gradually came to be completely dominated by the clergy under the leadership of the archbishop of Toledo ; with ecclesiastical prerogatives completely secure, they then tended to allow royal edicts to come into effect without further ratification. The royal councils ( Latin : curia regis ) of

5412-406: The monarchist cause nationally, but most provincial capitals and other sizable cities sided heavily with the republicans. This was interpreted as a victory, as the rural results were under the always-present suspicion of caciquismo and other irregularities while the urban results were harder to influence. The King left Spain, and a Republic was declared on 14 April 1931. The Second Spanish Republic

5494-419: The name of the head of state, powers nominally vested in the head of state – hence the use of phrases such as Her Majesty's government (in constitutional monarchies) or His Excellency's government (in parliamentary republics ). Such a system became particularly prevalent in older British dominions, many of which had their constitutions enacted by the British parliament; such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada,

5576-540: The nationalisation of services during the world wars, in the opinion of some commentators does have its drawbacks. For instance, the flip-flopping of legislation back and forth as the majority in parliament changed between the Conservatives and Labour over the period 1940–1980, contesting over the nationalisation and privatisation of the British Steel Industry resulted in major instability for the British steel sector. In R. Kent Weaver's book Are Parliamentary Systems Better? , he writes that an advantage of presidential systems

5658-436: The new Constitution , with the ex-monarchist leader Niceto Alcalá Zamora as President of the Republic and the left-wing leader Manuel Azaña as Prime Minister. The election gave a majority in the Cortes and thus, the Government, to a coalition between Azaña's party and the PSOE. A remarkable deed is universal suffrage , allowing women to vote, a provision highly criticized by Socialist leader Indalecio Prieto , who said

5740-432: The new king, a " Cortes of Cádiz " was convened that claimed sovereignty over Spain and operated as a government-in-exile . The Cortes was the first to act as a single representative body for the entire country and empire, although substitutes had to be chosen from among the people of Cádiz for many regions occupied by the French and unable to send their own delegates. Extremely liberal, the Constitution of 1812 enacted by

5822-421: The power to enact a constitutional reform. The modern Cortes Generales were created by the 1978 Constitution of Spain , but the institution has a long history. The tribal councils organized under Germanic law in the Visigothic Kingdom had the power of appointing and confirming kings, as well as passing laws and judgment. The Visigothic Code compiled under kings Chindasuinth and Recceswinth in

5904-437: The prime minister and government are appointed and whether the government needs the explicit approval of the parliament, rather than just the absence of its disapproval. While most parliamentary systems such as India require the prime minister and other ministers to be a member of the legislature, in other countries like Canada and the United Kingdom this only exists as a convention, some other countries including Norway, Sweden and

5986-405: The same effect; the presidential election, and the legislative election, and that the president's party has the legislative supermajority required for constitutional amendments. Safeguards against this situation implementable in both systems include the establishment of an upper house or a requirement for external ratification of constitutional amendments such as a referendum . Fontaine also notes as

6068-576: The term is defined. For example, the Icelandic Althing consisting of prominent individuals among the free landowners of the various districts of the Icelandic Commonwealth first gathered around the year 930 (it conducted its business orally, with no written record allowing an exact date). The first written record of a parliament, in particular in the sense of an assembly separate from the population called in presence of

6150-693: The young and chronically ill Charles   II , the Cortes of Castile was responsible for naming his mother Mariana regent. During the War of the Spanish Succession , the Bourbon king Philip   V suppressed the Cortes of Aragon and Valencia in 1707 and those of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in 1714. Following the Peace of Utrecht , the 1716 Nueva Planta Decrees fully abolished

6232-509: Was according to Fontaine allowed by the deficient separation of powers that characterises parliamentary and semi-presidential systems. Once Orbán's party got two-thirds of the seats in Parliament in a single election, a supermajority large enough to amend the Hungarian constitution, there was no institution that was able to balance the concentration of power. In a presidential system it would require at least two separate elections to create

6314-529: Was crowned as late as 1555, although she ruled Navarre beyond the Pyrenees . After the 17th century, all Spanish monarchs have taken the royal rank by proclamation and acclamation before the Church, and since the 18th century, before the Cortes Generales , although the royal crown has been present in these ceremonies. The current king, Felipe VI , was proclaimed King of Spain on 19 June 2014, having

6396-469: Was established as a presidential republic , with a unicameral Parliament and a President of the Republic as the Head of State . Among his powers were the appointment and dismissal of the Prime Minister , either on the advice of Parliament or just having consulted it before, and a limited power to dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections. The first term was the constituent term charged with creating

6478-504: Was incorrectly supposed to have been wiped out in the 1900s by the failed regenerationist movement. In the meantime, spiralling violence started with the murders of many leaders by both sides. Deprived of those leaders, the regime entered a general crisis, with extreme police measures which led to a dictatorship (1921–1930) during which the Senate was again abolished. The dictatorship, now ruled by Admiral Aznar-Cabañas , called for local elections. The results were overwhelmingly favorable to

6560-460: Was proclaimed and the Congress of Deputies members started writing a Constitution, supposedly that of a federal republic , with the power of Parliament being nearly supreme (see parliamentary supremacy , although Spain did not use the Westminster system ). However, due to numerous issues, Spain was not ready to become a republic; after several crises the government collapsed, and the monarchy

6642-639: Was restored in 1874. The regime just after the First Republic is called the Bourbon Restoration . It was formally a constitutional monarchy , with the monarch as a rubberstamp to the Cortes' acts but with some reserve powers, such as appointing and dismissing the Prime Minister and appointing senators for the new Senate , remade as an elected House. In practice there was an artificial two-party system called El Turno Pacífico (peaceful rotation) in which elections were informally fixed so

6724-735: Was the first to provide formal national representation of the free urban citizens alongside the clergy and hereditary nobility. Subsequently, larger and more inclusive Cortes occurred in the Principality of Catalonia in 1192, the Kingdom of Portugal in 1211, the Kingdom of Castile in 1250, the Kingdom of Aragon in 1274, the Kingdom of Valencia in 1283, and Kingdom of Navarre in 1300. The Leonese and Castilian Corteses were merged in 1258, after which it provided representation to Burgos, Toledo, León, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Zamora, Segovia, Ávila, Salamanca, Cuenca, Toro, Valladolid, Soria, Madrid, Guadalajara, and (after 1492) Granada. During

#10989