Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1377

 GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION

1255

House of Aracjon.

Fernando v., ' The Catholic ' 1479

House of Hcibshurg.

Carlos 1 1516

Felipe II 1556

Felipe III 1598

Felipe IV 1621

Carlos II 1665

House of Boicrbon. Felipe V,. . .1700

Fernando VI. ... 1746

Carlos III. .... 1759

Carlos IV 1788

Fernando VII. . . . 1808

House of Bonaparte. Joseph Bonaparte. . 1808

House of Bourhon.

Fernando VII., restored. 1814

Isabel II 1833

Provisional Government. 1868

Marshal Serrano, Regent. 1869

House of Savoy. Amadeo. . . .1870

Republic 1873-75.

House of Bourhon.

Alfonso XII 1875

M^Yi^i {pro tern.) . . . 1886 Alfonso XIII. . . .1886

Government and Constitution.

I. Centkal Government. The present Constitution of Spain, drawn up hy the Government and laid before a Cortes Constituventes, elected for its ratification, March 27, 1876, Avas proclaimed June 30, 1876. It enacts that Spain shall be a constitutional monarchy, the executive resting in the King, and the power to make laws ' in the Cortes with the King. ' The Cortes are composed of a Senate and Congress, equal in authority. There are three classes of senators — first, senators by their own right, or Senadores dc derecho propio ; secondly, 100 life senators nominated by the Crown — these two categories not to exceed 180 ; and thirdly, 180 senators, elected by the Corporations of State — that is, the communal and provincial states, the church, the universities, academies, &c. — and by the largest payers of contributions. Senators in their own right are the sons, it an}?-, of the King and of the immediate heir to the throne, who have attained their majority ; Grandees who are so in their own right and who can prove an annual renta of 60,000 pesetas, or 2,400/. ; captain- generals of the army ; admirals of the navy ; the patriarch of the Indias and the archbishops ; the presidents of the Council of State, of the Supreme Tribunal, of the Tribunal of Cuentas del Reino, and of the Supreme Council of War and of the Navy after two years of office. The elective senators must be renewed by one-half every five years, and by totality every time the Monarch dissolves that part of the Cortes. The Congress is formed by deputies ' named in the electoral Juntas in the form the law determines,' in the proportion of one to every 50,00U souls of the population. According to a law of August 8, 1907, voting is compulsory for all males over the age of 25 : with a few unimportant exceptions. This law further enacts that all such voters must be registered on the voting list, possess full civil rights, and must have been members of of a Municipality for at least 2 years. Members of Congress must be 25 years of age ; they are re-eligible indefinitely, the elections being for five years. J)eputies to the number of 98 are elected by scruLin de lisle in 28 large districts in which minorities may be duly represented. There are in all 406 deputies. The deputies cannot take State office, pensions, and salaries ; but the ministers are exempted from this law. Neither senators nor deputies are paid for their services. Both Congress and Senate meet every year. The Monarch has the power of convoking them, suspending