Your spanish lawyer meeting you at the coffee shop every day, covering simple aspects of Spanish Law for better inmersion in the Spanish culture, refering you to what she considers good links on the Internet:
Today: A tea on the Spanish Constitution, with some "churros" to go with, so we can feel the spanish taste:
The text of the Constitution ( in English!) from the Senate: http://www.senado.es/constitu_i/indices/consti_ing.pdf
And its wikiexplanation :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Constitution_of_1978
An interesting part of it: Reforms
The Constitution has been reformed once (Article 13.2, Title I) to extend to citizens of the European Union the right to active and passive suffrage (both voting rights and eligibility as candidates) in local elections.
The social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has announced its intention to undertake a major reform of the constitution during its tenure:
- Succession in the monarchy would be on the basis of age only, and not gender, thus abandoning the traditional Castilian rules set in the Siete Partidas. While the rights of the current heir Felipe, Prince of Asturias, would be maintained, the goal was to reform before his children were born. This issue was refreshed when Felipe's wife, Letizia Ortiz, announced her first and second pregnancies, and after the birth of the Infanta Leonor of Spain. The Prince, however, has reminded reformers that there is still time to implement this reform since none of his children will be considered heir to the throne until he himself has been crowned king.
- an overhaul of the Spanish Senate would transform it into a chamber of territorial representation
- the European Constitution (should one be approved) would be officially incorporated
- the names of the existing autonomous communities would be listed
The proposal has been met with scepticism from some quarters (notably in the main opposition party Partido Popular, PP) because some of these reforms deal with protected sections of the constitution, which would require supermajorities in order to be modified . Furthermore, even an amendment of a non-protected part of the Constitution would require the agreement of the main opposition party or at least some of its representatives, since it would require the support of three-fifths of each House, which is 210 votes in the Congress of Deputies and 159 in the Senate.
The current version restricts the death penalty to military courts during wartime, but the death penalty has since been removed from the Code of Military Justice and thus lost all relevance. Amnesty International has still requested an amendment to be made to the Constitution to abolish it firmly and explicitly in all cases.
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"Algodonales visto desde el Castillo de Zahara", Cadiz, Spain, by maesejose, at flickr.com