Statute Law of the Spanish People

STATUTE LAW OF THE SPANISH PEOPLE (Fuero de los Españoles) of 17th July, 1945, amended by the Organic Law of the State of 10th January, 1967

I, FRANCISCO FRANCO BAHAMONDE, CAUDILLO OF SPAIN, HEAD OF STATE AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE NATION:

Whereas the Spanish Cortes, as the highest organ of participation by the people in the affairs of the State, have in accordance with the law of their creation, drawn up the Fuero de los Españoles (Statute Law of the Spanish People), the fundamental text defining the rights and duties of the Spanish people and protecting their guarantees; and bearing in mind, as is the case in the Labour Law, that its principal provisions verify the permanent value of the concept that inspires them and that a large number of its declarations and precepts constitute a faithful adherence to Catholic social doctrine, recently brought up to date by the II Vatican Council and, finally, in view of the amendment introduced in Article Six thereof by the Organic Law of the State, approved subsequent to a national referendum, for the purpose of adapting its text to the declaration of the Council on religious freedom, promulgated on 1st December, 1965, which exacts explicit recognition of this right, in accordance with the second of the Fundamental Principles of the Movement, which stipulates that the doctrine of the Church shall inspire Spanish legislation.

I hereby resolve the following:

Article

The Fuero de los Españoles, the text of which appears hereinafter, is hereby approved, with the character of a Fundamental Law prescribing the rights and duties of the Spanish people.

PRELIMINARY TITLE
Article One

The Spanish State proclaims as the ruling principle of its acts respect for the dignity, the integrity and the liberty of the human person, recognizing man, the bearer of eternal values and the member of a national community, as the possessor of duties and rights, the exercise of which duties and rights guarantees in an orderly manner the common good.

CHAPTER I
Article Two

All Spaniards owe faithful service to their country, loyalty to the Head of State and obedience to the laws of the nation.

Article Three

The Law protects in equal measure the rights of every Spaniard, without preference i n respect of classes and without favour in respect of persons.

Article Four

All Spaniards have a right to the respect of their personal and family honour. Whosoever offends against it, whatever his condition, shall bear the responsibility.

Article Five

Every Spaniard has the right to receive education and instruction, either in the family home, or in private or public centres, according to his free choice. The State shall ensure that no talent shall be neglected for lack of economic means.

Article Six

The profession and practice of the Catholic religion, which is the religion of the Spanish State, shall enjoy official support. The State shall assume responsibility of protecting religious freedom, which shall be guaranteed by an efficacious juridical machinery, which, at the same time, shall safeguard morals and public order.

Article Seven

Bearing arms in the service of their country is a mark of honour for the Spanish people.

All Spaniards are obliged to render this service when called upon to do so within the provisions of the Law.

Article Eight

By law, and in general terms, personal loans as demanded by the interests of the Nation and public needs may be requisitioned.

Article Nine

The Spanish people shall contribute to the support of the public debt according to their economic capacity. No one shall be obliged to pay tributes that have not been established by law passed in the Cortes.

Article Ten

All Spaniards have the right to participate in public functions of a representative nature, through the family, the municipality and the Trade Union, without prejudice to other forms of representation as established by law.

Article Eleven

All Spaniards shall be eligible for public office in accordance with their merit and capacity.

Article Twelve

Every Spaniard may express his ideas freely provided they do not attack the fundamental principles of the State.

Article Thirteen

Within the territorial limits of the nation, the State guarantees the freedom and the secrecy of correspondence.

Article Fourteen

The Spanish people have the right to establish their residence freely within the territorial limits of the nation.

Article Fifteen

No one may enter the domicile of a Spaniard or search said domicile without his consent, unless it be by mandate of the competent authority and in the cases and in the manner established by law.

Article Sixteen

Spaniards may gather together and associate freely for lawful purposes and in accordance with the stipulations of the law. The State may create and maintain the organizations it deems necessary for the fulfilment of its ends. The basic norms, which shall become law, shall co-ordinate the exercise of this right with that recognized in the first part of this Article.

Article Seventeen

The Spanish people have a right to juridical security. All the organs of the State shall act in accordance with a hierarchic order with pre-established norms, which may not be arbitrarily interpreted nor altered.

Article Eighteen

No Spaniard may be arrested except in the cases and in the manner prescribed by law.

Within seventy-two hours, any person under arrest shall be set free or delivered to the judicial authorities.

Article Nineteen

A person who can only be condemned in virtue of a law in force before the commission of the offence, by the sentence of a competent Tribunal and after the hearing and defence of such a person.

Article Twenty-one

All Spaniards may direct individual petitions to the Head of State, to the Cortes and to the authorities.

Corporations, civil servants and members of the Armed Forces and Institutes may only exercise this right in accordance with the dispositions governing same.

CHAPTER II
Article Twenty-two

The State recognizes and protects the family as a natural institution and the foundation of society, with rights and duties anterior and superior to every positive human law. Matrimony shall be indissoluble.

The State shall give special assistance to large families.

Article Twenty-three

Parents are obliged to feed, educate and instruct their children. The State shall suspend the exercise of the patria potestad (rights of paterfamilias) or withhold such privilege from those who do not exercise it honourably, and shall transfer the guardianship and education of minors to those qualified by law to undertake this duty.

CHAPTER III
Article Twenty-four

All Spaniards have the right to work and the duty to occupy themselves in some socially useful activity.

Article Twenty-five

Labour, by virtue of its essentially human condition, cannot be relegated to the material concept of merchandise, nor be the object of any transaction incompatible with the personal dignity of the worker. It is of itself an attribute of honor and merit sufficient to demand the protection and assistance of the State.

Article Twenty-six

The State recognizes the commercial firm as a community contributing technical skill, labour and capital in its various forms, and supports, as a consequence, the right of these elements to participate in the benefits. The State shall ensure that relations between these elements be maintained on strictly equitable lines and in a hierarchy that subordinates economic values to human values, to the interests of the Nation and to the demands of the common good.

Article Twenty-seven

All workers shall be supported by the State in their right to just and adequate wages, at least to enable them and their families to lead a moral and honourable life.

Article Twenty-eight

The Spanish State guarantees its workers the security of aid in times of misfortune, and recognizes their right to assistance in old age, and in the event of death, sickness, maternity, work accidents, incapacity, unemployment and other contingencies that may fall within the province of social insurace.

Article Twenty-nine

The State shall maintain institutions of assistance and shall protect and encourage those created by the Church, by Corporations and by private individuals.

Article Thirty

Private property as the natural means for serving individual, family and social purposes is recognized and protected by the State.

All types of property are subordinate to the needs of the Nation and the common good.

Wealth cannot remain inactive, be unduly destroyed, or be applied to unlawful ends.

Article Thirty-one

The State shall facilitate to all Spaniards access to the types of property most intimately bound to the human person: family dwelling, inherited land, work tools and articles of daily use.

Article Thirty-two

In no case shall the penalty of confiscation of property be imposed.

No one may be dispossessed except for reasons of public utility or social interest, subject to the payment of appropriate indemnities, and in accordance with the provisions of the law.

TITLE II – THE EXERCISE AND GUARANTEE OF RIGHTS
Article Thirty-three

The exercise of the rights recognized in this Law (Fuero) cannot militate against the spiritual, national and social unity of Spain.

Article Thirty-four

The Cortes shall put to the vote the laws necessary for the exercise of the rights recognized in this Law (Fuero).

Article Thirty-five

The provisions of Articles twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and eighteen may be temporarily suspended by the Government, totally or partially, through a Decree-Law, which shall be limited to determining the extent and duration of the measure.

Article Thirty-six

Any violation of any of the rights declared in this Law (Fuero) shall be sanctioned by the laws, which shall determine the action to be taken before the appropriate juridical authority for their defence and guarantee.