León's Spanish Parliament

León's Spanish Parliament

The Spanish Parliament of the Kingdom of León (1188) was the first sample of modern parliamentarism in Western Europe's History.

After coming to the power, the King Alfonso IX, before the situation of crisis of Kingdom of León, attacked by their two neighbors, Castile and Portugal, he decided to summon the "Royal Curia".

This one was a medieval organisation composed by aristocrats and bishops. But, because of the gravity of the situation and ready to assemble the maximum political support, the king Alfonso IX took a revolutionary decision: he called the representatives of the urban middle class of the most important cities and assembled them with the nobility and the Church in "Cortes" or Parliament. For the first time since the Ancient Greece, not only the nobility and the Church were taking part in the elaboration of the laws of a country.

León's Parliament approached topics that today are the base of the juridical classification of any democratic state: the limits of the executive power, the defense of the citizen opposite to the power public and deprived of the epoch and especially, the cleanliness of the judicial processes.

In this respect it is necessary to emphasize the right to the private property, the resource to being able to come to the Justice opposite to the King, the obligation of the King to consult to the Parliament to enter war, the "habeas corpus" and the inviolability of the domicile.

From León's Parliament, Europe's numerous kingdoms assembled parliaments with participation of the cities: England, Catalonia, Aragón, Valencia.

When the Founding Fathers of the United States of America elaborated the American constitution, one of the juridical models who studied they were the laws arisen from the parliament of the Kingdom of León.John Adams known the text of the Fuero of León in his travel to Spain, as it's related in his biography.Fact|date=September 2007

ources

* Encyclopedia Britannica. Article: "History of Europe" (Birth of parliamentary bodies)
* John Adams' biography.
* O'Callaghan,J.F. "The beginninings of the Cortes of León-Castile», American History Review 1969, p. 1504.
* O'Callaghan, Joseph F. "A History of Medieval Spain". Ithaca 1975.
* Procter, Evelyn. "Curia and Cortes in León and Castile 1072-1295". Cambridge 1980.
* Procter, Evelyn."The Interpretation of Clause 3 in the Decrees of León," EHR 85 (1970
* Merriman, Roger B. "The Cortes of the Spanish Kingdoms in the Later Middle Ages," AHR 16 (1911)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • León (Spanish Congress Electoral District) — León is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Notable… …   Wikipedia

  • Parliament — This article is about the legislative institution. For other uses, see Parliament (disambiguation). Parliaments redirects here. For the American style doo wop quintet, see The Parliaments. The House of Representatives Chamber of the Parliament of …   Wikipedia

  • León, Spain — The city of León (Llión, in the Leonese language [www.aytoleon.es] ) is the capital of León province in the autonomous community of Castile and León, in northwest Spain. Its population of 136,985 (2006) [… …   Wikipedia

  • Spanish general election, 2008 — Infobox Election election name = Spanish general election, 2008 country = Spain type = parliamentary ongoing = no previous election = Spanish general election, 2004 previous year = 2004 next election = Next Spanish general election next year =… …   Wikipedia

  • Spanish Empire — For the use of the imperial title in medieval Spain, see Imperator totius Hispaniae. Spanish Empire …   Wikipedia

  • Spanish Realist literature — is the literature written in Spain during the second half of the 19th century, following the Realist movement which predominated in Europe.In the mid 19th century, the Romantic movement waned and a new literary movement arose in Europe: Realism.… …   Wikipedia

  • Spanish general election, 2011 — 2008 ← 20 November 2011 → Next …   Wikipedia

  • Leon Rosselson — (born 1934) is an English songwriter and writer of children s books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC s topical TV programme of the early 1960s,… …   Wikipedia

  • Léon Noël — Este artículo o sección sobre biografías y política necesita ser wikificado con un formato acorde a las convenciones de estilo. Por favor, edítalo para que las cumpla. Mientras tanto, no elimines este aviso puesto el 17 de junio de 2010. También… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Spanish Civil War — Spanish Civil War …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”