Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History; Spain -- Social life and customs
Below the provincial are the municipal authorities, the Alcaldes
(mayors), Ayuntamientos (municipal councils), and the Juntas
Municipales. The internal administration of every parish is entrusted to
an Ayuntamiento or municipal council, elected by the residents, and
composed of the Alcalde or mayor, the Tenientes or assistants, the
Regidores or councillors. The Junta Municipal is composed of all the
councillors of the Ayuntamiento, and an assembly of three times their
number, and by them the municipal accounts are to be audited and
revised. The number of the Ayuntamiento varies according to the
population; one Alcalde, one Teniente, six Regidores, for 1000; and one
Alcalde, ten Tenientes, thirty-three Regidores, for 100,000. The real
independence and free action of these bodies varies much in different
provinces and in different circumstances. The smaller bodies are quite
under the thumb of the central government; the larger ones in the great
towns and in the more independent provinces are much less easily
influenced.
The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman is declared to be the religion of the
State, and the nation is bound to maintain its worship and its
ministers. "But no one shall be molested on Spanish ground for his
religious opinions, nor for the exercise of his respective worship,
except it be against Christian morals. Nevertheless, no other ceremonies
or public manifestations shall be permitted than those of the religion
of the State." These last two articles are evidently equivocal, and
subject to great diversity of interpretation and of application.
All foreigners are free to settle in Spanish territory, and to exercise
therein their respective trades and professions, with the exception of
those which require special titles. The expression of opinion, the
press, the right of public meeting, of association, and of petition,
except from armed bodies, are respectively free. No Spaniard or
foreigner can be arrested or detained illegally. He must either be set
at liberty or be brought before a judge within twenty-four hours of his
arrest. No Spaniard can be arrested without a judge's warrant, and the
case must then be heard within seventy-two hours after his arrest;
otherwise he must be set at liberty on his own petition or on that of
any other Spaniard. Domicile is inviolable. Such are the principal
articles of the present Spanish Constitution. In spite of the excess of
some republican governments and the reaction of others, real progress
has been made, excepting only in the equivocal law on religion, and that
on marriages between Catholics and Protestants.
_Administrative Spain._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account