Statute Law of the Spanish People

2. STATUTE LAW OF THE SPANISH PEOPLE
(Fuero de los Españoles)
of 17th July, 1945, amended by the Organic Law of the State of 10th January, 1967

I, FRANCISCO FRANCO BAHAMONDE, CAUDILLO OF SPAIN, HEAD OF STATE AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE NATION:

Whereas the Spanish Cortes, as the highest organ of participation by the people in the affairs of the State, have, in accordance with the law of their creation, drawn up the Fuero de los Españoles (Statute Law of the Spanish People), the fundamental text defining the rights and duties of the Spanish people and protecting their guarantees; and bearing in mind, as is the case in the Labour Law, that its principal provisions verify the permanent value of the concept that inspires them and that a large number of its declarations and precepts constitute a faithful adherence to Catholic social doctrine, recently brought up to date by the II Vatican Council and, finally, in view of the amendment introduced in Article Six thereof by the Organic Law of the State, approved subsequent to a national referendum, for the purpose of adapting its text to the declaration of the Council on religious freedom, promulgated on 1st December, 1965, which exacts explicit recognition of this right, in accordance with the second of the Fundamental Principles of the Movement, which stipulates that the doctrine of the Church shall inspire Spanish legislation.

I hereby resolve the following:

Article

The Fuero de los Españoles, the text of which appears hereinafter, is hereby approved, with the character of a Fundamental Law prescribing the rights and duties of the Spanish people.

PRELIMINARY TITLE

Article One

The Spanish State proclaims as the ruling principle of its acts respect for the dignity, the integrity and the liberty of the human person, recognizing man, the bearer of eternal values and the member of a national community, as the possessor of duties and rights, the exercise of which duties and rights guarantees in an orderly manner the common good^[1].

TITLE I

DUTIES AND RIGHTS OF THE SPANISH PEOPLE

CHAPTER I

Article Two

All Spaniards owe faithful service to their country, loyalty to the Head of State and obedience to the laws of the nation^[2].

Article Three

The Law protects in equal measure the rights of every Spaniard, without preference in respect of classes and without favour in respect of persons^[3].

Article Four

All Spaniards have a right to the respect of their personal and family honour. Whosoever offends against it, whatever his condition, shall bear the responsibility^[4].

Article Five

Every Spaniard has the right to receive education and instruction, either in the family home, or in private or public centres, according to his free choice. The State shall ensure that no talent shall be neglected for lack of economic means^[5].

Article Six

The profession and practice of the Catholic religion, which is the religion of the Spanish State, shall enjoy official support. The State shall assume responsibility of protecting religious freedom, which shall be guaranteed by an efficacious juridical machinery, which, at the same time, shall safeguard morals and public order^[6].

Article Seven

Bearing arms in the service of their country is a mark of honour for the Spanish people.

All Spaniards are obliged to render this service when called upon to do so within the provisions of the Law^[7].

Article Eight

By law, and in general terms, personal loans as demanded by the interests of the Nation and public needs may be requisitioned^[8].

Article Nine

The Spanish people shall contribute to the support of the public debt according to their economic capacity. No one shall be obliged to pay tributes that have not been established by law passed in the Cortes^[9].

Article Ten

All Spaniards have the right to participate in public functions of a representative nature, through the family, the municipality and the Trade Union, without prejudice to other forms of representation as established by law^[10].

Article Eleven

All Spaniards shall be eligible for public office in accordance with their merit and capacity^[11].

Article Twelve

Every Spaniard may express his ideas freely provided they do not attack the fundamental principles of the State^[12].

Article Thirteen

Within the territorial limits of the nation, the State guarantees the freedom and the secrecy of correspondence^[13].

Article Fourteen

The Spanish people have the right to establish their residence freely within the territorial limits of the nation^[14].

Article Fifteen

No one may enter the domicile of a Spaniard or search said domicile without his consent, unless it be by mandate of the competent authority and in the cases and in the manner established by law^[15].

Article Sixteen

Spaniards may gather together and associate freely for lawful purposes and in accordance with the stipulations of the law. The State may create and maintain the organizations it deems necessary for the fulfilment of its ends. The basic norms, which shall become law, shall co-ordinate the exercise of this right with that recognized in the first part of this Article^[16].

Article Seventeen

The Spanish people have a right to juridical security. All the organs of the State shall act in accordance with a hierarchic order with pre-established norms, which may not be arbitrarily interpreted nor altered^[17].

Article Eighteen

No Spaniard may be arrested except in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law.

Within seventy-two hours, any person under arrest shall be set free or delivered to the judicial authorities^[18].

Article Nineteen

A person who can only be condemned in virtue of a law in force before the commission of the offence, by the sentence of a competent Tribunal and after the hearing and defence of such a person^[19].

Article Twenty

No Spaniard may be deprived of his nationality except for the crime of treason, as defined in the penal laws, or for entering the military service or assuming public office in a foreign country against the express wish of the Head of State^[20].

Article Twenty-one

All Spaniards may direct individual petitions to the Head of State, to the Cortes and to the authorities.

Corporations, civil servants and members of the Armed Forces and Institutes may only exercise this right in accordance with the dispositions governing same^[21].

CHAPTER II

Article Twenty-two

The State recognizes and protects the family as a natural institution and the foundation of society, with rights and duties anterior and superior to every positive human law. Matrimony shall be indissoluble.

The State shall give special assistance to large families^[22].

Article Twenty-three

Parents are obliged to feed, educate and instruct their children. The State shall suspend the exercise of the patria potestad (rights of paterfamilias) or withhold such privilege from those who do not exercise it honourably, and shall transfer the guardianship and education of minors to those qualified by law to undertake this duty^[23].

CHAPTER III

Article Twenty-four

All Spaniards have the right to work and the duty to occupy themselves in some socially useful activity^[24].

Article Twenty-five

Labour, by virtue of its essentially human condition, cannot be relegated to the material concept of merchandise, nor be the object of any transaction incompatible with the personal dignity of the worker. It is of itself an attribute of honour and merit sufficient to demand the protection and assistance of the State^[25].

Article Twenty-six

The State recognizes the commercial firm as a community contributing technical skill, labour and capital in its various forms, and supports, as a consequence, the right of these elements to participate in the benefits. The State shall ensure that relations between these elements be maintained on strictly equitable lines and in a hierarchy that subordinates economic values to human values, to the interests of the Nation and to the demands of the common good^[26].

Article Twenty-seven

All workers shall be supported by the State in their right to just and adequate wages, at least to enable them and their families to lead a moral and honourable life^[27].

Article Twenty-eight

The Spanish State guarantees its workers the security of aid in times of misfortune, and recognizes their right to assistance in old age, and in the event of death, sickness, maternity, work accidents, incapacity, unemployment and other contingencies that may fall within the province of social insurance^[28].

Article Twenty-nine

The State shall maintain institutions of assistance and shall protect and encourage those created by the Church, by Corporations and by private individuals^[29].

Article Thirty

Private property as the natural means for serving individual, family and social purposes is recognized and protected by the State.

All types of property are subordinate to the needs of the Nation and the common good.

Wealth cannot remain inactive, be unduly destroyed, or be applied to unlawful ends^[30].

Article Thirty-one

The State shall facilitate to all Spaniards access to the types of property most intimately bound to the human person: family dwelling, inherited land, work tools and articles of daily use^[31].

Article Thirty-two

In no case shall the penalty of confiscation of property be imposed.

No one may be dispossessed except for reasons of public utility or social interest, subject to the payment of appropriate indemnities, and in accordance with the provisions of the law^[32].

TITLE II

THE EXERCISE AND GUARANTEE OF RIGHTS

Article Thirty-three

The exercise of the rights recognized in this Law (Fuero) cannot militate against the spiritual, national and social unity of Spain^[33].

Article Thirty-four

The Cortes shall put to the vote the laws necessary for the exercise of the rights recognized in this Law (Fuero)^[34].

Article Thirty-five

The provisions of Articles twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and eighteen may be temporarily suspended by the Government, totally or partially, through a Decree-Law, which shall be limited to determining the extent and duration of the measure^[35].

Article Thirty-six

Any violation of any of the rights declared in this Law (Fuero) shall be sanctioned by the laws, which shall determine the action to be taken before the appropriate juridical authority for their defence and guarantee.

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1. The entire Spanish juridical system is based on this principle.
2. See Law on Fundamental Principles, I. The Spanish juridical system is based on this principle.
3. See law on Fundamental Principles, V & IX. The Spanish juridical system is based on this principle.
4. In respect of personal and family honour, Title X of the existing Penal Code, revised by Decree of 28th March, 1963, covers offences against honour.
5. See Law on Fundamental Principles, IX. Decree 193/1967, of 2nd February, prescribes regulations governing obligatory provisions and grants (Articles 12 and 1().
   The Law on Educational Grants of 19th July, 1964, recognizes, in Article 2 thereof, as intitled to educational grants "every Spaniard morally and intellectually fit to undertake studies, and especially, those lacking the economic means necessary to pursue their profession".
   Law 45/1960, of 21st July, created the National Fund of Promoting the Principle of Equality of Opportunity.
6. See Law on Fundamental Principles and the Law regulating the exercise of civil rights and religious freedom, of 26th June, 1967.
   Formerly, non-Catholics only had the right of not being molested for their religious beliefs, and any external manifestations other than those of the Catholic cult were not allowed; now the State guarantees the defence and protection of religious freedom, with the ruling of the II Vatican Council.
   The Head of State, in his address on the occasion of presenting the Organic Law, pointed out that the new text of this article had received the approval of the Holy See.
   The recognition of the Spanish State as of the Catholic confession was stipulated in the Fuero de los Españoles of 1945, Article 6.
7. Regulation on Recruitment for Army of 6th April, 1943.
8. See Law on Fundamental Principles, IX.
   Articles 564, 565, 567 and 569 of the Law of Local Government, complete revised text of 24th June, 1955.
9. See Law on Fundamental Principles, IX.
   The General Tax Law, of 28th December, 1963, covers this principle in Articles 2 and 3, stipulating that the primary authority for establishing taxes is exclusively that of the State, and it shall be exercised by law passed in the Cortes (Art. 2). On the other hand, Article 3 stipulates that the disposition of taxes must be based on general principles and the equitable distribution of tax liabilities.
10. See Law on Fundamental Principles, VIII.
11. See Law on Fundamental Principles, VIII.
    Law of State Civil Servants, of 7th February, 1964, especially Article 30. Law on Women's Rights, of 22nd July, 1961.
12. According to Article 3 of the Press and Printing Law, of 18th March, 1966, the Administration cannot apply prior censorship nor insist on obligatory consultation except in exceptional cases and in time of war, as expressly stipulated in the laws.
13. Article 192 of the existing Penal Code typifies the offence of violation of correspondence.
    The postal ordinance, approved by Decree of 19th, 1960, guarantees in Article 14 thereof the freedom, secrecy and inviolability of correspondence. Similarly, the Regulation on Postal Servicies, approved by Decree of 14th May, 1964 (Arts. 26, 27 &28) covers this guarantee.
14. Article 189 of the Penal Code.
15. Law on Public Order, Article 11, and Penal Code, Articles 191 and 490.
16. Law of Association, of 24th December 1964, and supplementary norms, approved by Decree of 20th May, 1965.
17. Articles 23, 26, 27, 28 & 30 of the Law on the Juridical System of the Administration of State, of 26th July, 1957.
18. Article 12 of the Law on Public Order, of 30th July, 1959. Local Government Law of 24th June, 1955, Article 263. Article 47 of the Decree of Governors, of 10th October, 1958.
    The Penal Code typifies the offence of unlawful arrest in Articles 181 and 480-483 thereof.
19. This principle of penal legality is outlines in the existing Penal Code, specifically in Article 2 thereof.
20. This matter is expounded in Article 23, Nos. 1 and 2 of the Spanish Civil Code.
21. Law on the Right of Petition, of 22nd December, 1960. Military personnel are subject to the provisions established in Decree 93/1962, of 18th January.
22. Article 10 of this Law and annotation to paragraphs 2 and 3 of Declaration XII of the Labour Law.
    Law on Support of Large Families, of 13th December, 1943, and Regulation for its application, of 31st March, 1944.
    Article 42 of the Civil Code on Matrimony.
23. Regulated by the Civil Code, Articles 155 and 171, and by the Law on Primary Education, of 2nd February, 1967 (Article 55).
    Decree of 11th June 1958, which approves the revised text of legislation on protection of minors.
24. See Labour Law, Declaration I, 2 & 8.
25. See Labour Law, Declaration I, 2.
26. See Labour Law, Declarations VIII & IX.
27. See Labour Law, Declaration III.
28. Labour Law, Declaration X.
    The Law on the Bases of Social Security, of 28th December, 1965, propounded by Decree of 21st April, 1966, brings together the voluminous legislative provisions on this matter.
29. At the present time, the agency promoting this activity is the Dirección General de Beneficencia y Obras Sociales (Department of Assistance and Social Welfare) in the Home Office (Gobernación).
30. Law on Land Administration and Town Planning, of 12th May, 1956, and Law on Enforced Expropriation of 16th December, 1954.
    Labour Law Declaration XII.
31. Labour Law, Declaration XII, 2.
32. Law on Enforced Expropriation, of 16th December, 1954.
33. Law on Public Order, of 30th July, 1959, Article 2.
34. Law of the Cortes, Article 10, Clause g).
35. Article 35, Law of the Cortes, Article 13.