1978 Spanish Constitution

Spanish Constitution
Copy of the Spanish Constitution displayed at the Palace of the Cortes
Created	31 October 1978
Ratified	6 December 1978
Location	Congress of Deputies
Author(s)	"Fathers of the Constitution"
Signatories	Juan Carlos I

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 (Spanish: Constitución española de 1978) is the current supreme law of the legal system of the Kingdom of Spain to which the public authority and citizens of Spain are subject. It was enacted after the country's 1978 constitutional referendum and is a furtherance of the Spanish transition to democracy. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 was preceded by numerous other constitutions.

The Constitution was ratified after a referendum on 6 December 1978, sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I on 27 December, and published in the Boletin Oficial del Estado on 29 December. The promulgation of the Constitution marked the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of the former head of state, Francisco Franco, in 20th November 1975. This led to the country undergoing a series of political, social and historical changes that transformed the Francoist regime into a democratic state.

The separation of powers is implicitly stated throughout the Constitution, which says that all people have the right to decide the representatives who will occupy the Cortes Generales, consisting of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate; both share the legislative power. The Government, whose president is anointed by the Congress of Deputies, directs the executive power, and the judicial power relies on judges, and the Constitutional Court assures that all laws follow the Constitution. The king is the head of state, figure that perform merely symbolic tasks and lacks of effective power of decision. The current king is Felipe VI of Spain.