Spain was an hereditary monarchy, the Constitution of which was voted by the Cortes and became law in 1876. The sovereign was inviolable, but his ministers were responsible to the Cortes, and none of his decrees was valid unless countersigned by a minister. The legislative au thority was exercised by the sovereign with the Cortes, a body composed of two houses—a senate and a chamber of deputies. The Senate was composed of members of three classes: (I) Members by right of birth or office—princes ; nobles (with a certain annual income) and holding the rank of grandee (grande); captains-general of the army; admirals of the navy; the patri arch of the Indies; archbishops; cardinals; the presidents of the Council of State and of the Supreme Court and other high officials, all of whom must have retained their appointments for two years; (2) members nominated by the sovereign for life; and (3) members elected by the provinces, academies, universities, dioceses and State corporations. The members belonging to the first two classes must not exceed i8o in number, and there may be the same number of members of the third class. The lower house of the Cortes had 417 deputies, who could not take State office pensions or salaries ; but the ministers and State officials of a salary higher than 15,00o pesetas were exempted from this law. Both Congress (Chamber of Deputies) and Senate were supposed to meet every year. The executive was vested under the monarch in a council of ministers. The ministerial departments were For eign Affairs, Justice and Worship, War, Marine, Finance, Interior, Public Instruction, Public Works and Labour.
In 1923 a decree appointed Gen. Primo de Rivera chief of the Government and president of a military directory. This was superseded by a civil Government in 1925 under Gen. de Rivera, composed of members of the new political party Union Pa triotica. All the former ministerial departments were set up again, but really everything continued much as before. Martial law was proclaimed from Sept. 1926 to Jan. 1927, and thereafter a general assembly was called.
Since 1918 every commune has its own Ayuntamiento, consisting of from five to 5o Regidores or Con cejales. The Ayuntamientos have charge of the entire local gov ernment. Half the members are elected every second year, and the body appoints its own executive. Each Spanish province has its Diputacion Provincial, elected by the constituencies. This as sembly meets annually and is permanently represented by the Comision Provincial, appointed annually. The State executive and the Cortes have little power to interfere with local government. The Basque Provinces have lost a former large measure of self government, but though they are governed like the rest of Spain, certain fueros, or exemptions, are given them, a new statute of exemptions coming into force in 1925. All mayors and municipal
councils in Spain were dismissed by decree in 1923 and replaced by members of the Associated Council of Householders. In
a royal decree made possible a law establishing the Estatuto Municipal, governing the future municipal organization and ad ministration. More freedom is granted to the Ayuntamiento, especially in drawing up its own organization. Women have been given the suffrage, and the voting age for males and females has been reduced to 23 years, and special representation was given to guilds and other corporations.
Spanish law is founded on Roman law, Gothic common law, and the national code proclaimed at the meeting of the Cortes at Toro in 1501 (the Leyes de Toro). The present civil code was put into force on May I, '1889, for the whole kingdom. The penal code dates from 1870 and was modified in 1877. The commercial code was put into force on Aug. 22, 1885, the code of civil procedure on April 1, 1881, and the code of criminal procedure on June 22, 1882. In addition to courts held by justices of the peace, there are 522 courts of first instance (in the Partidos judiciales), above these come 5o provincial high courts, with appeal to the 15 divisional high courts, while there is a supreme high court at Madrid. Justices of the peace deal only with petty offences and small civil cases. A court of minors has been established.
The feudal sovereignties of mediaeval Spain dif fered but little, in their military organization, from other feudal states (see ARmy). Mercenaries were the only forces on which reliance was placed for foreign wars. These troops called alma gyivares (Arabic=scouts) won a great reputation on Italian and Greek battlefields of the 13th century, and with many transforma tions in name and character appeared from time to time up to the Peninsular War. Castile, however, had a military system very dif ferent from the rest. The forces of the kingdom were composed of local contingents similar to the English fyrd, professional sol diers who were paid followers of the great lords, and the heavy cavalry of the military orders. The groups of cities called Her mandades, while they existed, also had permanent forces in their pay. At the union of Castile and Aragon the Castilian methods received a more general application. The new Hermandad was partly a light cavalry, partly a police, and was organized in the ratio of one soldier to every hundred families. In the conquest of Grenada (1482-92) mesnodas or contingents were furnished by the crown, the nobles and the cities, and permanently kept in the field. The Hermandad served throughout the war as a matter of course. From the veterans of this war was drawn the army which in the Italian wars won its reputation as the first army in Europe.