FUERO, a Spanish term, derived from the Latin forum (q.v.). The Castilian use of the word in the sense of a right, privilege or charter is perhaps to be traced to the Roman con ventus juridici (assize towns), also known as jurisdictiones or fora, in Pliny's time already numerous in the Iberian peninsula. In each of these provincial fora the Roman magistrate paid all possible deference to the established law of the district; and every free subject could demand that he should be judged in accord ance with the customs and usages of his proper forum. It is highly probable that the old administrative arrangements of the provinces, and especially of the towns, remained practically un disturbed at the period of the Gothic occupation of Spain.' The Theodosian Code and the Breviary of Alaric alike seem to imply a continuance of the municipal system established by the Romans; the later Lex Visigothorum, does not appear to have contemplated any marked interference with the former fora. During the Arab occupation the Christians were, sometimes at least, judged ac cording to their own laws in separate tribunals presided over by Christian judges;' and the mere fact of the preservation of the name alcalde (q.v.), an official whose functions corresponded so closely to those of the judex or de f ensor civitatis, suggests that the old municipal fora, if much impaired, were not even then in all cases wholly destroyed. When the word forum (or fonts, Ducange) begins to appear in documents of the Toth century in the sense of a liberty or privilege, it is generally implied that the thing so named is nothing new. The earliest extant written fuero is probably that granted to the province and town of Leon by Al fonso V. in 1020. It emanated from the king in a general council of the kingdom of Leon and Castile, and consists of two parts, the "fuero general" applying to the kingdom at large and the "fuero municipal," a mere municipal charter. The "fuero general" does not profess to supersede the consuetudines antiquorum jurium or Chindaswint's codification of these in the Lex Visigothorum ; the "fuero municipal" is for the most part but a resuscitation of usages formerly established. Almost contemporaneous with it was that granted to Naj era by Sancho el Mayor of Navarre (ob. 1035), and confirmed, in 1076, by Alfonso In the fuero of Cardena, 'See Savigny, Gesch. d. corn. Rechts, especially i. pp. 154, seq.
Lembke u. Schafer, "Geschichte von Spanien," in Geschichte der europQischen Staaten i. 314; ii., 117.
et concedo et confirmo ut ista civitas cum sua plebe et cum omnibus suis pertinentiis sub tali lege et sub tali foro Inaneat per saecula cuncta. Amen. Isti sunt fueros quae habuerunt in Naxera in diebus Sanctii regis et Gartiani regis." (I order and permit and confirm that this town with its people and all that pertains to them shall re main under such law and such forum for all time. Amen. These are the fueros which they held in Naxera in the days of King Sancho and King Garcia.) granted by Ferdinand I. in 1039, reference is made to a previous forum Burgense (Burgos), which, however, has not been pre served, if, indeed, it ever had been reduced to writing at all. The fuero of Sepulveda (1076) points back to a remote antiquity. Among the later fueros of the II th century, the most important are those of Jaca (1064) and of Logrono (1095). The former, unusually large in its concessions, rapidly extended to many places in the neighbourhood, while the latter, given also to Miranda by Alfonso VI., was extended in '181 by Sancho el Sabio of Navarre to Vitoria, thus constituting one of the earliest written fora of the "Provincial Vascongadas." In the 12th and 13th centuries the number of such documents increased rapidly; that of Toledo, granted to the Mozarabic population in iioi, but greatly enlarged and extended by Alfonso VII. (11i 8) and later sovereigns, was the basis for many other Castilian fueros. Latterly the word fuero came to be used in Castile in a wider sense, as a general code of laws ; thus about the time of Saint Ferdinand the old Lex Visigo thorum was translated into the vernacular and called the Fuero Juzgo; and among the compilations of Alfonso the Learned were an Espejo de Fueros and the Fuero de las leyes, or Fuero Real. The famous code known as the Ordenamiento Real de Alcald, or Fuero Viejo de Castilla, dates from a later period. As the power of the Spanish crown was gradually concentrated and consolidated the local fueros slowly yielded before the force of imperialism; and only those of Navarre and the Basque provinces (see BASQUES) managed to survive. At the death of Ferdinand VII. in 1833, these rights were set aside by Castanos. The result was a civil war, which terminated in a renewed acknowledgment of the fueros by Isabel II. (1839) . The provisional government of 1868 also promised to respect them, and similar pledges were given by the governments which succeeded. In consequence, however, of the Carlist rising of 1873-76, the Basque fueros were finally ex tinguished in 1876. The history of the Foraes of the Portuguese towns, and of the Fors du Beam, is analogous to that of the fueros of Castile.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. See F. M. Marina, Ensayo historico-critico sobre la Bibliography. See F. M. Marina, Ensayo historico-critico sobre la antigua legislation y principales cuerpos legales de los reynos de Leon v Castilla; Manuel de Colmeiro, Curso de derecho politico Begun la historic de Leon y de Castilla (1873) ; H. Schafer, Geschichte von Spanien, in Geschichte der europdtschen staaten, ii. 418-428, iii. 293 seq. (Hamburg, Gotha, 1829-1902) ; H. Hallam, Middle Ages, c. iv. (1877) ; and Escricke's Law Dictionary.