Catalan Courts

Ferdinand II of Aragon on his throne flanked by two shields with the emblem of the royal signet. Frontis of a 1495 edition of the Catalan Constitutions.[4]

The origin of the Catalan Courts is located in the Count's Court (Catalan: Cort Comtal), circa 1000 and modeled after the Frankish Curia regis, and in the meetings of the Peace and Truce that from 1021 met to discuss and agree on the termination of wars and violence. One of the first precedents of the Catalan Courts date from 1192, the year in which the townspeople participated for the first time in the meeting of the Peace and Truce. Those of 1214 were convened by the papal legate, Cardinal Pietro di Benevento in the Castell de la Suda, in Lleida and responded to the need to fix the confusing situation in the country after the death of King Peter of Aragon at the Battle of Muret and the beginning of the reign of his son James I who was only six years old. The new king of Aragon took his oath before prelates and magnates of the royal curia, representatives of cities and villages. At the time of James I (1208-1276), they met summoned by the king as representative of the social classes of the time.

Under the reign of Peter the Great (1276-1285), the Catalan Courts took institutional form.

In the Courts held in Barcelona in 1283, the king was forced to hold a General Court once a year, with representative participation of the time, to discuss the good of the state and land reform. The king himself stated: «...si nós i els successors nostres volem fer alguna constitució o estatut a Catalunya, els sotmetrem a l'aprovació i consentiment dels Prelats, dels Barons, dels Cavallers i dels Ciutadans...».[5] (Translation from Catalan: "if we and our successors want to make a constitution or statute in Catalonia, we will submit them to the approval and consent of the prelates, barons, knights and citizens ...").

Signet of the Delegation of the Generality of the Principality of Catalonia in the late fifteenth century representing its patron bearing the shield of the Cross of St. George which were the arms of the Generalitat of Catalonia. On the caption: S(igillum): CORTIUM: ET: PARLAMENTORUM: GENERALIUM: PRINCIPATUS: CATHALONIE (Seal of the Courts and the Parliament of the Principality of Catalonia) [6]

In the Courts held in Monzón in 1289, Delegation of the General Court was appointed as a permanent council to collect the "service" or tribute that the arms granted to the king at his request. Later, this would give rise to the Generalitat of Catalonia, in the fourteenth century. Its regulation was also used to create in the fifteenth century the Valencian Generalitat.

In the Parliament of 1358-1359, held in Barcelona, Vilafranca del Penedès and Cervera under King Peter IV, Castile invaded Aragon and Valencia. This caused a series of armed conflicts that resulted in considerable expenses to the Crown of Aragon. This circumstance prompted the courts to appoint twelve deputies with executive powers in taxation and some "oïdors de comptes" who controlled the administration, constituting the Deputation of the General (Catalan: Diputació del General), later often known as "Generalitat", under the authority of Berenguer de Cruïlles, bishop of Girona, who is regarded as the first President of the Generalitat.[7]

In these Courts, the first ones of Ferdinand the Catholic, many issues that remained pending after the Catalan Civil War (1462-1472) were resolved: the role of the Deputation of the General, the pactism and the return of properties. These last two points materialized in the recognition of a defeat shared by both sides, with more focus on seeking the reconstruction of the country than on the repression of the defeated. In these Courts the chapter Poc valdría was approved, later called "Constitution of the Observance", in which the obligation of the king to fulfill and to respect the constitutions of Catalonia is picked up. The chapter instructed the Deputation of the General to ensure its compliance, both by the king and his officers, and authorized it to revoke any unconstitutional order. It is considered a key piece of Catalan pactism.

In 1519, the Courts met in Barcelona to recognize the first unified monarch of all the crowns of Castile and Aragon, Charles I, and to discuss the granting of financial assistance to the Cort reial (Royal court). It was during the king's stay in Barcelona that he got the news that Charles had been elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire under the name of Charles V.[8]

During the period of the Austrians, the Courts were summoned less and less because of a supposed brake from the absolute power of the king. Therefore, the Generalitat, as the body responsible for ensuring compliance with the constitutions of Catalonia, gained in strength and prominence.

The last General Court, presided by the disputed king Charles III were held in Barcelona in 1705-1706, which, according to historian Joaquim Albareda, represented an important advance in the guarantee of individual, civil and political rights (for example, establishing the secrecy of correspondence),[9] while at the same time they consolidated many of the constitutional reforms of the last previous Courts (1701-1702) such as the Court of Contraventions (Catalan: Tribunal de Contrafaccions), created in order to ensure the application of the constitutions and solve and prosecute any act (included the ones done by the king or his officers) contrary to the Catalan legislation.

This body was suppressed, like the other political institutions and most of the legislation of the Principality of Catalonia, after the end of the War of Succession in 1714, by the Nueva Planta decrees created by the new Spanish king, Philip V, essentially establishing an absolutist system of government. From that point on, the representatives of Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia were incorporated into the Courts of Castile which, unlike the Courts of the realms of the Crown of Aragon, operated as an advisory body.

The current Parliament of Catalonia, established in 1932 as the legislative body of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan autonomous government), is considered the historical successor of the Courts.[10]