Pactism in Catalonia

This article offers a historiographic definition of 'pactism', i.e. the pact-based model institutional doctrine and practice held in Europe from the High-Middle Ages onwards, until the emergence of the modern concept of sovereignty in the absolutist state of the 16th and 17th centuries. As...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: De Montagut, Tomàs, Ripoll, Pere
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:255763
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/255763
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.2478/jocih-2019-0012
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Pactisme
Legal pactism
Pact-model
Jurisdiction
Senyoria
Medieval Monarchies
Corts Generals
Generalitat
Cort General de Montsó (1585)
Finances
Legislative power
Dual conception of political Community
Descripción
Sumario:This article offers a historiographic definition of 'pactism', i.e. the pact-based model institutional doctrine and practice held in Europe from the High-Middle Ages onwards, until the emergence of the modern concept of sovereignty in the absolutist state of the 16th and 17th centuries. As institutional doctrine, pactism found in Catalonia one of its most elaborate formulations. This article defines the constitutive elements of Catalan legal pactism, stemming from the Romanist concept of ius com mune and the conceptual work on interpretation and early public law carried out by legal scholars. It distinguishes different kinds and degrees of jurisdictio (senyoria, in Catalan language)-universals, generals and speciales-and it defines populus, constitutio populi, imperium and contrafaccions. Cata lan legal instruments related to the enactment of laws by the General Courts-Constitucions, Capítols i Actes de Cort-and the limited power of the King, the composition of Generalitat (the General of Catalonia), and the role of the three Catalan branches (braços, estaments) are also elucidated. It al so delves into the procedure for establishing constitutions which was followed by the Cort General of Montsó of 1585. The 15th c. legal compilation called Llibre dels Quatre Senyals and the recent discovery of the Llibre dels Vuit Senyals allow a more accurate dating of origins (1289, 1291, 1359, 1376), and a better understanding of its financial objectives, procedures and protections. Finally, this article introduces the notion of a dual conception of the political community as a suitable interpretative thesis to make sense of the whole process of the development of public law in Medieval Catalonia.