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the Spanish Church, was signed. From 1854 to 1856
(the Bienio Liberal) the Liberals, with Espartero and
O'Donnell, were again in power, and O'Donnell ac-
quired prestige in the African war of 1859. This
ministry also re-estabhshed the Constitution ofl845
and stopped the sale of church property (1856).
It was succeeded by the Narvaez ministry (1866), and after these two generals, Prim and Serrano, who had been exiled, obtained the aid of the Navy, com- manded by Topete, and effected the Revolution of September, 1868, which dethroned the Bourbons and summoned to the Throne Amadeus I (Duke of Aosta), of the House of Savoy. Prim having been assassi- nated just as ArnadeuB landed in the Peninsula, the new king was left without any sohd support and, in Febru- ary, 1873, was obhged to abdicate. On 8 June of the same year the (jortes proclaimed the republic, which lasted but two years and had four presidents: Figueras, Pi y Margall, Salmer6n, and Castelar. In the mean time the Spanish Catholics, exasperated by the excesses of the Liberals, rallied round the Duke of Madrid, Don Carlos de Borb6n, in whom the Tradi- tionaUsts saw the legitimate heir of Ferdinand VII and Charles V, and the Third Carlist War began — the second having been nothing more than General Or- tega's attempt in behalf of the Count of Montemoliu. In the existing condition of political disorganization, the Carhsts were enabled to gain substantial ad- vantages, and were on the point of making themselves masters of the Government. But the aristocracy and the financial interests, making General Martinez Campos their instrument, effected the restoration of the female branch of the Bourbons, proclaiming .Al- fonso XII, in whose favour Isabel II had abdicated. Don Alfonso landed at Cadiz, 9 January, 1875, and in a short time the Carlist rising was suppressed, as well as that of Cuba (October, 1877). As a result of the Bourbon Restoration, and of an agreement between Antonio Cdnovas, leader of the Conservatives (suc- cessors of the Moderates), and Prdxedes Mateo Sa- gasta, leader of the Liberals, who had inherited the aspirations of the Revolution, there was created in Spain the political situation which has lasted until now (1910), establishing the legal alternation (tiiriio legal) of the Alphonsist-Monarchical parties in power. Alfonso XII died 25 November, 1885, leaving the re- gency to Dona Maria Cristina of Habsburg, as mother of his posthumous son, Alfonso XIII (b. 17 May, 1886). During the regency the Cuban Insurrection, and that of the Philippines, gave rise to the war with the United States, which led to the lossof the last rem- nants of Spain's colonial empire.
IV. Actual Conditions. — A. Legislation. — The Spanish nationality being formed out of two ele- ments, the Gothic and the Hispano-Roman, had at the outset two different legislative systems. Euric, in the code which bears his name, collected the laws of the Goths, while the "Breviarium" of Anianus (in the time of Alaric II) sums up the provisions of the Ro- man law for the government of the Hispano-Latins. But when the two races had become fused, there was also a fusion of the two systems of legislation in the "Forum Judicum", or "Fuero Juzgo" (completed in the Sixteenth Council of Toledo), which is the first of the Spanish Codes, and in which the Gothic element predominates in the law of persons, the Roman in that of contracts. During the Reconquest there arose the fueros, special laws, or privileges, granted by the kings to certain particular cities or provinces and which were also known (as in England and France) aa cartas, or mrlas pueblas, i. e., charters granted to those who populated a new city. Another general code for Castile was the "Fuero Viejo" (Old Privilege), of un- certain origin, but probably commenced in the time of Alfonso VIII and completed in that of Pedro I. Alfonso IX published the "Fueros Real", which in- cluded the declarations called the "I^eyes del Es-
tilo" — rules of style, or of procedure. The legisla-
tive work undertaken in the time of St. Ferdinand
ended with Alfonso X, the Wise, author of the "Siete
Partidas", or "Seven Parts". This king, however,
being a man of theory rather than a practical man,
modified the national laws and customs to excess, al-
lowing himself to be carried away by his admiration
for the Roman Law. Hence the "Siete Partidas"
have never been in legal force, except as a supple-
mentary code and as bearing on certain particular
Principal Facade, Church of S. Domingo, Salamanca
points — the succession of the Crown, for instance, un-
til the Bourbons grafted upon the Spanish code the
Salic Law which they brought from France.
The fact that the " Siete Partidas ' ' had not acquired legal force was the reason why Castilian legislation remained entangled with a mass of fueros, ordinances, and special provisions. One of these, the Ordinance of Alcald, passed by the Cortes of Alcald in the time of Alfonso XI, estabhshed, among other matters, the order of precedence of the Spanish codes. Others were the Laws of Toro and the Ordinances of Mon- talvo, made in the time of the Cathohc Sovereigns. The other kingdoms of Spain continued to elaborate their owii several legislations — Catalonia, with its very ancient "L^satges" and its "Consulat de Mar" (the oldest commercial code in Europe); Aragon, Navarre, and the rest, with their respective special fueros. Wishing to give the united monarchy a civil code, Philip II pubhshed the "Nueva Recopilaci6n" (New Digest) of the Spanish laws, though, indeed the charter laws of the various provinces were at the same time left in full vigour. In the reign of Charles IV (1805), a "Novisima Recopilaci6n " (Latest Digest) was published, also leaving untouched the charter laws of the provinces. Finally, in the nineteenth century, there arose the division of laws into political, ci\nl, penal, and laws of procedure.
The Cortes of Cadiz, in 1812, formulated the first Liberal Constitution, which, however, showed some regard for Cathohc unity. This Constitution was
