Ferdinand the Catholic confirming the fueros of Biscay at Guernica in 1476

Fuero (Spanish: [ˈfweɾo]), Fur (Catalan: [ˈfur]), Foro (Galician: [ˈfɔɾo]) or Foru (Basque: [foɾu]) is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms for and foire, and the Portuguese terms foro and foral; all of these words have related, but somewhat different, meanings.

The Spanish term fuero has a wide range of meanings, depending upon its context. It has meant a compilation of laws, especially a local or regional one; a set of laws specific to an identified class or estate (for example fuero militar, comparable to a military code of justice or fuero eclesiástico, specific to the Church). In many of these senses, its equivalent in the Anglo-Saxon world would be the charter.

In the 20th century, Francisco Franco's regime used the term fueros for several of the fundamental laws. The term implied these were not constitutions subject to debate and change by a sovereign people, but bills granted by the only legitimate source of authority, as in feudal times.

King James I of Aragon receives from Vidal de Canyelles, Bishop of Huesca, the first compilation of the Furs d'Aragó (the "Fueros of Aragon"), 1247

Nature[link]

Fuero dates back to the feudal era: a fuero could be conceded or acknowledged by the lord to certain groups or communities, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, the military, and certain regions that fell under the same monarchy as Castile or, later, Spain, but were not fully integrated into those countries.

The relations among fueros, other bodies of law (including the role of precedent), and sovereignty is a contentious one that echoes down to the present day. The various Basque provinces generally regarded their fueros as tantamount to a constitution, a view that has been accepted by others, including President of the United States John Adams, who cited the Biscayan fueros as a precedent for the United States Constitution. (Adams, A defense…, 1786)^[1] This view regards fueros as granting or acknowledging rights. In the contrasting view, fueros were privileges granted by a monarch.

In practice, distinct fueros for specific classes, estates, towns, or regions usually arose out of feudal power politics, and (depending on one's point of view) were wrested from the monarch in exchange for the general acknowledgment of his or her authority, were granted by the monarch to reward loyal subjection, or (especially in the case of towns or regions) simply acknowledged distinct legal traditions.

In medieval Castilian law, the king could assign privileges to certain groups. The classic example is the Roman Catholic Church; the clergy did not pay taxes to the state, enjoyed the income via tithes of local landholding, and were not subject to the civil courts: church-operated ecclesiastical courts tried churchmen for criminal offenses. The powerful Mesta organization, composed of wealthy sheepherders, enjoyed vast grazing rights in Andalusia after that land was "reconquered" from the Muslims (see Reconquista). Lyle N. McAlister writes in Spain and Portugal in the New World that the Mesta's fuero helped impede the economic development of southern Spain, creating the pressure that encouraged Spaniards to emigrate to the New World.^[2]

[edit] Aristocratic fueros

During the Reconquista, the feudal lords granted fueros to some villas and cities, to encourage the repopulation of the frontier and of commercial routes. These laws regulated the governance and the penal, process and civil aspects of the places. Often the fueros already codified for one place were granted to another, with small changes, instead of crafting a new redaction from scratch.

[edit]

[edit] Basque fueros

In contemporary Spanish usage, the word fueros most often refers to the historic and contemporary fueros or charters of certain regions, especially of the Basque regions.

In the last days of the Western Roman Empire, the Basques are supposed to have played a prominent role in the Bagaudae (peasant revolts resisting the dawn of feudalism). The Basques successfully maintained their independence from the Germanic tribes such as the Goths, forming the Duchy of Vasconia (centered in present-day Gascony and dynastically connected to the Duchy of Aquitaine). As the Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Vasconia and Aquitaine sought the aid of Charlemagne and subsequent Carolingian monarchs, resulting in a certain amount of assimilation; however, during this period, a bit to the south, a new Basque nucleus grew, in the form of the Kingdom of Pamplona, later known as the Kingdom of Navarre. Navarrese law developed along less feudal lines than those of surrounding countries. In 1234 when the first foreign king the French Theobald I of Champagne arrived, he didn't know Navarrese common law and it was necessary for a commission to write it; that was the first fuero.

Castile absorbed Navarre between 1512 and 1526 (up to the summit of the Pyrenees). In order to gain Navarrese loyalty, fueros were granted allowing the region to continue to function under its historic laws. (Meanwhile, northern Navarre became increasingly tied to France, a process completed when a Navarrese prince became King Henry IV of France.) Although not without conflicts, until the era of the French Revolution on both sides of the Pyrenees quasi-independent Basque regions successfully maintained their fueros.

Every Biscayne or Guipuscoan was a born hidalgo (gentry), thus free of torture and to serve in the army. (Don Quixote's Sancho Panza remarked humorously that writing and reading and being Biscayne was enough to be secretary to the emperor).

The Aragonese fueros were an obstacle for Philip II when his former secretary Antonio Pérez escaped the death penalty by fleeing to Aragon. The king's only means to enforce the sentence was the Spanish Inquisition, the only cross-kingdom tribunal of his domains. Pérez escaped again to France, but Philip's army invaded Aragon and executed its authorities. The Inquisition however had frequent conflicts of jurisdiction with local civil authorities and bishops.^[3]

However, the Revolution brought the rise of the centralized nation state (also referred to in a Spanish context as "unitarianism", unrelated to the religion of the same name). Whereas the Ancien Régime had allowed for regional privileges, the new order did not allow for such autonomy. The jigsaw puzzle of fiefs was rationalized into départements, based on administrative and economic concerns, not tradition.

Spain in 1850; the colors represent the different bailiwicks.

During the two centuries following the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era, the level of autonomy for the Basque regions within Spain has varied. The cry for fueros (meaning regional autonomy) was one of the demands of the Carlists of the 19th century, hence the strong support for Carlism from the Basque Country and (especially in the First Carlist War) in Catalonia and Aragón. Thus, the Carlist effort to restore absolute monarchy was sustained militarily mainly by those whom fueros had protected from the full weight of absolutism. The defeat of the Carlists in three successive wars resulted in continuing erosion of traditional Basque privileges.

The Carlist land-based small nobility (jauntxo) lost power to the new bourgeoisie, who welcome the extension of Spanish customs borders from the Ebro to the Pyrenees. The new borders protected the fledging Basque industry from foreign competition and opened the Spanish market.

The new class negotiated the Ley Paccionada (in Navarre), which granted a substantial autonomy to the provincial governments within the Spanish state.

Sabino Arana, founder of the Basque Nationalist Party, came from a Carlist background. He rejected the Spanish monarchy and founded Basque nationalism on the basis of Catholicism and fueros (in old Basque, Fueroac; Standard Basque, Foruak; Arana's neologism, Lagi-Zaŕa, "Old law").

The high-water mark of a restoration of Basque autonomy in recent times came under the Second Spanish Republic. This led the Basque nationalists to support the left-leaning Republic as ardently as they had earlier supported the right-wing Carlists (note, however, that contemporary Carlists supported Francisco Franco). The defeat of the Republic by the forces of Francisco Franco led, in turn, to a suppression of differential Basque culture, including banning the public use of the Basque language.

The Franco regime considered Biscay and Guipúzcoa as "traitor provinces" and cancelled their fueros. However the pro-Franco provinces of Álava and Navarre maintained a degree of autonomy unknown in the rest of Spain, with local telephone companies, provincial limited-bailiwick police forces (miñones in Alava, and Foral Police in Navarre), road works and some own taxes

The post-Franco Spanish Constitution of 1978 acknowledges "historical rights" and attempts compromise in the old conflict between centralism and federalism by the establishment of autonomous communities (such as Castile and León, Catalonia, Valencia, etc.). The provincial governments (diputación foral) were restored, but many of their powers were transferred to the new government of the Basque Country autonomous community, though the provinces still perform tax collection in their respective territories, coordinating with the Basque, Spanish and European governments.

Today, the act regulating the powers of the government of Navarre is the Amejoramiento del Fuero ("Betterment of the Fuero"), and the official name of Navarre is Comunidad Foral de Navarra, "foral" being the adjectival form of fuero.

The fuerismo of the 19th century called for autonomy within Spain. Today, Alavese foralismo strengthens the Alavese identity against what it considers excesses of Basque nationalism.

Private law[link]

While Fueros have disappeared from Spanish administrative law (except for the Basque Country and Navarre), there are remnants of the old laws in family law. When the Civil Code was established in Spain (1888) some parts of it did not run in some regions. In places like Galicia and Catalonia, the marriage contracts and inheritance are still governed by local laws. This has led to peculiar forms of land distribution.

These laws are not uniform. For example, in Biscay, different rules regulate inheritance in the villas, than in the country towns (tierra llana). Modern jurists try to modernize the foral family laws while keeping with their spirit.

List of fueros[link]

• Fueros of Navarre
• Fors de Bearn
• Furs de Valencia
• Fuero de Oreja

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Llorente, Juan Antonio Noticias históricas de las tres provincias vascongadas. Tomo II, Capitulo I. (1800) Available (in Spanish) online through the Digital Library of the Sancho El Sabio Foundation.
• "Los Fueros de Navarra: Exposición" - discussion of fueros on the official web site of the Navarrese government (in Spanish).
• Much of the discussion of the Basque fueros comes from es:Nacionalismo vasco in the Spanish-language Wikipedia; last updated from the version dated 11:44 23 Sep, 2004.
• Fueros de la Rioja, a collection of the local Medieval charters of several towns in La Rioja, in old Castilian or Latin.
• Fuero at the Dictionary of the Real Academia Española.

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Fuero.

• A digitized version of Amalio Marichalar, Marqués de Montesa, Historia de la legislación y recitaciones del derecho civil de España : Fueros de Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa y Alava, 2ª ed. corr. y aum., ("History of the legislation and recitations of the civil law of Spain; 2nd edition corrected and augmented") Madrid : [s.n.], 1868 (Impr. de los Sres. Gasset, Loma y compañia) p.; 8º mayr is available on the site of the Biblioteca Nacional Española.

Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert
78th President of Bolivia
In office 17 October 2003 – 6 June 2005
Preceded by	Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Succeeded by	Eduardo Rodríguez
Vice President of Bolivia
In office 6 August 2002 – 17 October 2003
President	Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada
Preceded by	Jorge Quiroga Ramírez
Succeeded by	Álvaro García Linera
Personal details
Born	(1953-08-12) August 12, 1953 (age 58) La Paz, Bolivia
Nationality	Bolivian
Political party	no party affiliation
Spouse(s)	Elvira Salinas de Mesa

Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert (born August 12, 1953) is a historian and was President of Bolivia from 17 October 2003 until his resignation on 6 June 2005. Mesa was a popular television journalist and personality, known by many for his rectitude and impartiality but loathed by many others for alleged political opportunism. His widespread name recognition prompted the MNR candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to pick him as his running mate in the 2002 Bolivian presidential elections. The winning ticket of Sánchez-Mesa took possession on August 6, 2002.^[1] As Vice-President, the apolitical Mesa was quickly caught between the proverbial rock and hard place, as a wave of protests and strikes shut down Bolivia in a bitter dispute known as the Bolivian Gas War. The demonstrations eventually forced Sánchez de Lozada to resign and flee the country, leaving Mesa as President of the Republic.

Presidency[link]

In the short year and a half after assuming office, Mesa found himself also under extreme internal and external political pressures over the use of Bolivia's 1.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, estimated to be worth billions of dollars (USD). His alliance with Evo Morales gave him no results, even after accepting a Chavista type Constituyente.

After a resurgence of Gas protests in 2005, in a political move he attempted to resign in January 2005, but his offer was refused by Congress. On March 22, 2005, after weeks of new street protests from organizations accusing Mesa of bowing to U.S. corporate interests, Mesa again offered his resignation to Congress, and it was accepted on June 10 under the pressure of road blockades and general social unrest. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, Eduardo Rodríguez, was sworn as interim president to succeed the outgoing Carlos Mesa.

Carlos Mesa had been Vice-President to President Sanchez de Lozada since August 6, 2002. In that capacity, he was also the head of the Bolivian Congress.

As noted, Mesa was, prior to entering the political arena, a historian and journalist in radio, television and newspapers. He is a member of the Bolivian History Academy, and co-wrote (along with his parents, themselves noted scholars and professionals) an interesting and relatively exhaustive compendium of Bolivian history from the coming of the Spaniards to the close of the millennium.

Despite his lack of experience in the political arena, Mesa's star rose quickly in the Sánchez de Lozada administration. In September 2003, he was invited to address the UN General Assembly, where he warned:

Democracy is in danger in Bolivia as the result of legitimate pressures from the poor. We cannot generate economic growth and well-being for a few and then expect that the large majorities that are excluded will watch silently and patiently. We poor countries demand that our products be admitted into the markets of rich countries in adequate conditions. [1]

As the gas conflict escalated, Mesa became increasingly unhappy with the government's heavy-handed suppression of the protests, which left over 50 people dead. He did not resign, but he did withdraw his support for Sánchez de Lozada five days before the latter's resignation, saying: "I cannot continue to support the situation we are living through." Some speculated that Mesa had personal reasons to adopt this posture, as it opened the way to his succeeding Sánchez de Lozada as president. However, it also placed him at the center of extreme political pressures – from both internal Bolivian and external foreign interests – regarding the use of Bolivia's natural gas reserves. Bolivia's next presidential elections were scheduled for 2007, but Mesa was quick to point out that his administration was transitional and that he did not intend to complete Sánchez de Lozada's term in office.

Mesa eventually changed his mind and decided to try to finish his constitutional term. Results; the referendum posed what were widely perceived to be vague and overly complicated questions. (See: Bolivian gas referendum, 2004.) In addition, in March 2004 he announced that his government would hold a series of rallies around the country, and at its embassies abroad, demanding that Chile return to Bolivia a stretch of seacoast that the country lost in 1884 after the end of the War of the Pacific. Chile has traditionally refused to negotiate on the issue, but Mesa nonetheless made this policy a central point of his administration in order to gain popular support.

Following protests, he tendered his resignation to Congress on March 22, 2005; however, the legislators voted almost unanimously the next day to reject his offer. Still, domestic tensions between the poor and rural eastern highlands and the wealthier cities and oil-rich south continued to rise. Weeks of escalating street demonstrations and widening disorder reached a peak in June 2005, as tens of thousands of protesters marched into La Paz. Aware of his growing incapacity to control or influence events without resorting to violence, Mesa once more tendered his resignation to Congress. This time, Congress accepted his offer. The presidents of the two national legislative chambers at that point abdicated their constitutional powers in favor of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and new president of Bolivia, Eduardo Rodríguez. He was charged with the duty of swiftly organizing national elections, which led to the massive victory of MAS candidate Evo Morales in December 2005.

From the accession of Evo Morales, rumors began to abound about serious efforts being made to bring Carlos Mesa to trial for a number of alleged misdeeds, including responsibility for the deaths of protesters, both under his administration and that of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (with whom he served as Vice-President); for economic mismanagement and corruption; and even for having mulled a "self-coup" in order to temporarily suspend constitutional rights and bring order to the country with the help of the military.

Works[link]

• Cine boliviano, del realizador al crítico (co-author, 1979)
• El cine boliviano según Luis Espinal (1982)
• Presidentes de Bolivia: entre urnas y fusiles (1983)
• Manual de historia de Bolivia (co-author, 1983)
• La aventura del cine boliviano 1952-1985 (1985)
• Un debate entre gitanos (1991)
• De cerca, una década de conversaciones en democracia (1993)
• La epopeya del fútbol boliviano (1994)
• Territorios de libertad (1995)
• Historia de Bolivia (co-author, 1997)
• El vano de la vida incansable (co-author, 1999)
• La espada en la palabra (2000)
• El Vicepresidente ¿la sombra del poder? (co-author, 2003)
• Presidencia sitiada: memorias de mi gobierno (2008)
• Un gobierno de ciudadanos (editor, 2008)

• Many documentaries made for television, including the series "Bolivia Siglo XX", a contemporary history of Bolivia consisting of 36 documentaries, each about an hour long, made in conjunction with Mario Espinoza and produced by Ximena Valdivia.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official web site of the president of Bolivia
• Biography of Carlos Mesa at CIDOB (Spanish)
• Bolivian president plans resignation, CNN, 6 June 2005
• Spectre of Civil War for Bolivia – Financial Times
• Bolivia on a Tight Rope – DissidentVoice.org (background information)
• The Carlos Mesa's referendum, 2004 (video, Spanish)

See also[link]

• List of presidents of Bolivia
• History of Bolivia
• Politics of Bolivia

v t e Presidents of Bolivia Simón Bolívar Antonio José de Sucre José María Pérez de Urdininea Pedro Blanco Soto Andrés de Santa Cruz Sebastián Ágreda Mariano Enrique Calvo Cuellar José Ballivián Eusebio Guilarte Vera Víctor González Fuentes José Miguel de Velasco Franco Manuel Isidoro Belzu Jorge Córdova José María Linares José María Achá Mariano Melgarejo Agustín Morales Adolfo Ballivián Tomás Frías Ametller Hilarión Daza Narciso Campero Gregorio Pacheco Aniceto Arce Mariano Baptista Severo Fernández José Manuel Pando Eliodoro Villazón Ismael Montes José Gutiérrez Bautista Saavedra Felipe S. Guzmán Hernando Siles Reyes Carlos Blanco Galindo Daniel Salamanca Urey José Luis Tejada Sorzano David Toro Germán Busch Carlos Quintanilla Enrique Peñaranda Gualberto Villarroel Néstor Guillén Tomás Monje Enrique Hertzog Mamerto Urriolagoitia Hugo Ballivián René Barrientos Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas Alfredo Ovando Candía Juan José Torres Hugo Banzer Juan Pereda David Padilla Wálter Guevara Alberto Natusch Lidia Gueiler Tejada Luis García Meza Tejada Celso Torrelio Guido Vildoso Hernán Siles Zuazo Víctor Paz Estenssoro Jaime Paz Zamora Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Hugo Banzer Jorge Quiroga Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Carlos Mesa Eduardo Rodríguez Evo Morales