Spanish law

The Law of Spain is the legislation in force in the Kingdom of Spain, which is understood to mean Spanish territory, Spanish waters, consulates and embassies, and ships flying the Spanish flag in international waters. It is also applicable to the Spanish armed forces worldwide. Spanish law stems from the Spanish people through democratically elected institutions. Equally, part of the legislation comes from the supranational institutions of the European Union, which also enjoy democratic legitimacy.

Spanish law follows the continental system, which means it is supported principally by the law in the broad sense (laws and regulations) and to a lesser extent by judicial decisions and customs. Likewise, it is a complex law, in which various autonomous community legislation coexists with the national.

The supreme Spanish law is the Spanish Constitution of 1978, which regulates the functioning of public bodies and the fundamental rights of the Spanish people, as well as the organization and competencies of the different autonomous communities. The Constitution, as well as being directly applicable by the judiciary, enjoys a material supremacy that determines the rest of the laws in Spain.

All laws in Spain must be declared compatible with the Constitution (all laws that contravene the Constitution are invalid). However, it is clear that it a public body is needed to regulate the fulfilment of this rule. In Spain's case, a Constitutional Court exists, which follows the Kelsenian (or Austrian) model.

Following this doctrine, the constitutional court has two basic functions:

In a case where an ordinary court questions a law, only the right of declaration is available, and it must go to the Constitutional Court with the question of constitutionality so that it can be declared, thus it is the only body which possesses the power to reject laws.

The division of powers, a fundamental idea in liberal thinking, is the core of the political system. At its heart, national sovereignty permits the election, by universal suffrage (men and woman older than 18), of representatives of the sovereign people in the Cortes Generales. The Cortes Generales exercise legislative power through two chambers, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, choose the Prime Minister and control the actions of the executive power, which must obey the law.

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