DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0136
120
APPENDIX.
the throne of Castile and Leon; it was mentioned for the
first time in las Siete Partidas. But this collection was not
acknowledged or proclaimed as a code of laws, properly so
called, during the life of the royal author; it was not till
the reign of Alphonso XI. that it obtained the force of law
from the Cortes of Alcala, in 1338, as we have said in our
Essay. Owing to this cause, then? Alphonso the Wise had
a right to proclaim his younger son, Don Sancho, his suc-
cessor, to the prejudice of the issue of his elder son, Don
Ferndndo, who was dead. The king, in his ordinance re-
lative to the crown, adhered to the common law then in
force; and, in order to act regularly and legally, he could
not, and ought not, to follow the new dispositions respecting
the right of representation comprised in las Siete Partidas,
precisely because they had not yet acquired that legal au-
thority which the concurrence of the Cortes gives to acts
emanating from the royal power. It is a proof, then, of
great ignorance of Spanish history and legislation to allege
that king Alphonso the Wise contravened his own law, since
that law had not acquired legal effect, and could not become
executory and obligatory till 1338, in virtue of the consent
of the Cortes of Alcala \
The second objection against the validity of la,s Siete
Partidas, which has likewise been advanced several times of
late, consists in pretending that this law has but a supple-
mentary authority. This assertion is grounded on the laws
of Alphonso XI. and on the laws of Toro, made during the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, which are
represented to say that the laws of las Partidas are avail-
1 A similar error is to be found in another work very recently published, in
favour of the cause of Don Carlos. It is there said, in defiance of history, that
king Alphonso X. called to the throne, one after another, his grandsons, the
children of Don Fernando, and that he disinherited his second son, Sancho, who
nevertheless, was proclaimed king. Here are as many blunders as words.
APPENDIX.
the throne of Castile and Leon; it was mentioned for the
first time in las Siete Partidas. But this collection was not
acknowledged or proclaimed as a code of laws, properly so
called, during the life of the royal author; it was not till
the reign of Alphonso XI. that it obtained the force of law
from the Cortes of Alcala, in 1338, as we have said in our
Essay. Owing to this cause, then? Alphonso the Wise had
a right to proclaim his younger son, Don Sancho, his suc-
cessor, to the prejudice of the issue of his elder son, Don
Ferndndo, who was dead. The king, in his ordinance re-
lative to the crown, adhered to the common law then in
force; and, in order to act regularly and legally, he could
not, and ought not, to follow the new dispositions respecting
the right of representation comprised in las Siete Partidas,
precisely because they had not yet acquired that legal au-
thority which the concurrence of the Cortes gives to acts
emanating from the royal power. It is a proof, then, of
great ignorance of Spanish history and legislation to allege
that king Alphonso the Wise contravened his own law, since
that law had not acquired legal effect, and could not become
executory and obligatory till 1338, in virtue of the consent
of the Cortes of Alcala \
The second objection against the validity of la,s Siete
Partidas, which has likewise been advanced several times of
late, consists in pretending that this law has but a supple-
mentary authority. This assertion is grounded on the laws
of Alphonso XI. and on the laws of Toro, made during the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, which are
represented to say that the laws of las Partidas are avail-
1 A similar error is to be found in another work very recently published, in
favour of the cause of Don Carlos. It is there said, in defiance of history, that
king Alphonso X. called to the throne, one after another, his grandsons, the
children of Don Fernando, and that he disinherited his second son, Sancho, who
nevertheless, was proclaimed king. Here are as many blunders as words.