DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0087
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
71
the part of the Cortes is finished ’. The promulgation of
the law is an administrative act, wholly independent of the
making of the law, and which depends entirely on the
sovereign. He gives orders to this effect to his council, as
is likewise proved by the form in which the king returned
his affirmative answer to the Petition of the Cortes 1 2. If
then Ferdinand VII., in 1830, ordered the council of Castile
to draw up, with the observance of all the legal forms, the
Pragmatic Sanction, which had been concluded between the
king his father and the Cortes, he was strictly within the
line of his prerogative, as king, by the force of custom and
the nature of things3; and thereby he only fulfilled the
obligation which the king his father had contracted towards
the Cortes. He had no need to observe any other formali-
ties than those which were customary in issuing a royal
edict, a matter which specially concerns the royal council.
When, therefore, it is alleged “that Ferdinand VII. abo-
“ lished in March, 1830, the auto acordado of 1713, without
“ observing the legal forms,” whereas he had only to publish
a law already made, and legally made, by one of his prede-
cessors and the Cortes, this assertion proves either an in-
credible ignorance of all the facts attested by history, or
a wilful perversion of the truth.
1 The Spanish law distinguishes :—1. The official publication ; this is made
in the supreme council, when a law emanates solely from the royal authority;
and in the Cortes, when the Cortes have taken part in it, as was the case on the
30th of October, 1789.—2. The general publication; which makes the law
known to all, after the official publication. It was the general publication,
which is only an external solemnity, that was in this instance delayed.
2 See p. 68. The kings of Spain have used this form for four centuries
past, as may be seen by the recopilacion of the laws of Castile, made in the time
of Philip II.
3 The celebrated laws of las Partidas and the fuero real were not published
any more than this in the lifetime of the kings who made them, and yet no
one ever dreamt of considering that as a cause of non-validity.
71
the part of the Cortes is finished ’. The promulgation of
the law is an administrative act, wholly independent of the
making of the law, and which depends entirely on the
sovereign. He gives orders to this effect to his council, as
is likewise proved by the form in which the king returned
his affirmative answer to the Petition of the Cortes 1 2. If
then Ferdinand VII., in 1830, ordered the council of Castile
to draw up, with the observance of all the legal forms, the
Pragmatic Sanction, which had been concluded between the
king his father and the Cortes, he was strictly within the
line of his prerogative, as king, by the force of custom and
the nature of things3; and thereby he only fulfilled the
obligation which the king his father had contracted towards
the Cortes. He had no need to observe any other formali-
ties than those which were customary in issuing a royal
edict, a matter which specially concerns the royal council.
When, therefore, it is alleged “that Ferdinand VII. abo-
“ lished in March, 1830, the auto acordado of 1713, without
“ observing the legal forms,” whereas he had only to publish
a law already made, and legally made, by one of his prede-
cessors and the Cortes, this assertion proves either an in-
credible ignorance of all the facts attested by history, or
a wilful perversion of the truth.
1 The Spanish law distinguishes :—1. The official publication ; this is made
in the supreme council, when a law emanates solely from the royal authority;
and in the Cortes, when the Cortes have taken part in it, as was the case on the
30th of October, 1789.—2. The general publication; which makes the law
known to all, after the official publication. It was the general publication,
which is only an external solemnity, that was in this instance delayed.
2 See p. 68. The kings of Spain have used this form for four centuries
past, as may be seen by the recopilacion of the laws of Castile, made in the time
of Philip II.
3 The celebrated laws of las Partidas and the fuero real were not published
any more than this in the lifetime of the kings who made them, and yet no
one ever dreamt of considering that as a cause of non-validity.