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The Cortes Generales ( English: "General Courts" ) is the Legislature of Spain . It is a Bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress Of Deputies , the Lower House , and the Senate , the Upper House . The Cortes has power to enact any Law and to amend the Constitution . Moreover, the lower house has the power to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister . However, because Spain is a European Union (EU) member-state, it shares its legislative authority with the council and parliament of the EU. HISTORY OF THE CORTES Origins: the Feudal Age (8th-12th centuries) The system of ''Cortes'' arose in the Middle Ages as part of Feudalism . A Corte was an advisory council made up by the most powerful Feudal Lord s closest to the king. The Cortes of Castile and Leon were combined from 1188 AD, marking the start of a first Hispanic government with some claim to being representative. Prelates, nobles and commoners remained separated in the three estates within the Cortes. The king had the ability to call and dismiss the Cortes, but, as the lords of the Corte headed the army and controlled the money, the King usually signed Treaties with them to pass bills for war at the cost of concessions to the lords and the Cortes. The rise of the bourgeoisie (12th-15th centuries) With the reappearance of the s (servants of feudal lords) ''nor'' nobles themselves. Furthermore, the nobles were experiencing very hard economic times due to the Reconquista ; so now the Bourgeoisie (Spanish ''burguesía'', from ''burgo'', city) had the money and thus the power. So the King started admitting representatives from the cities to the Cortes in order to get more money for the Reconquista. The frequent payoffs were the Fuero s, grants of autonomy to the cities and their inhabitants. At this time the Cortes already had the power to oppose the King's decisions, thus effectively vetoing them. In addition, some representatives (elected from the Corte members by itself) were permanent advisors to the King, even when the Corte was not in session. The Catholic Monarchs (15th century) Isabella I Of Castile and Ferdinand II Of Aragon , the Catholic Monarchs , started a specific policy to diminish the power of the bourgeoisie and nobility. They greatly reduced the powers of the Cortes to the point they simply Rubberstamp ed monarch's acts, and brought the nobility to their side. One of the major points of friction between the Cortes and the monarchs was the power of rising and lowering Tax es. It was the only matter that the Cortes had under some direct control; when Queen Isabella wanted to fund Christopher Columbus 's trip, she had a hard time battling with the Bourgeoisie to get the Cortes' approval. The Imperial Cortes (16th-17th centuries) The role of the Cortes during the Spanish Empire was mainly to Rubberstamp the decisions of the ruling Monarch . However, they had some power over economic and American affairs, especially Tax es. The Senate appeared here, as a king-appointed legislature, in contrast to the Bourgueois lower house. The declared itself independent and started a war, while some of the last Habsburg monarchs did not rule the country, leaving this task in the hands of Viceroy s governing in their name, the most famous being the Count-Duke of Olivares, Philip IV 's viceroy. This allowed the Cortes to become more influential, even when they did not directly oppose to King's decisions (or viceroys' decisions in the name of the King). Cádiz Cortes The Cádiz Cortes operated as a government in exile. France under Napoleon had taken control of most of Spain during the Peninsular War . The Cortes found refuge in the fortified, coastal city of Cádiz . Liberal factions dominated the body and pushed the Spanish Constitution Of 1812 . Ferdinand VII , however, tossed it aside upon his restoration and pursued conservative policies; making the constitution an icon for liberal movements in Spain. Many miliraty coups were attempted, and finally Col. Rafael Del Riego 's one succeeded and forced the King to accept the liberal constitution in which became the Three Liberal Years (Trienio Liberal). Actually, the monarch asked many powers, including the Holy Alliance for help, and finally received an army (the 100,000 sons of Saint Louis) to restore absolutism. The First Republic Parliament (1873-1874) When the monarchy was overthrown, the King Of Spain was forced into Exile . The Senate was abolished because of its King-appointed nature. A Republic was proclaimed and the Congress Of Deputies members started writing a Constitution, supposedly that of a Federal Republic , with the power of Parliament being nearly supreme (see Parliamentary Supremacy , although Spain did not use the Westminster System ). However, due to many problems (mainly Illiteracy of the people) Spain was not ready to become a republic; after several crises the republic collapsed, and the monarchy was restored. The Restoration Cortes (1874-1930) The regime just after the First Republic is called the Restoration. It was a Constitutional Monarchy , with the monarch as a Rubberstamp to the Cortes' acts but with some reserve powers, such as appointing and dismissing the Prime Minister and appointing senators for the new Senate , restored as an elected House. Little after the Soviet Revolution , the Spanish politic parties started polarizing, and the left-winged PCE and PSOE blamed the Government for supposed election cheating in small towns ('' Caciquismo ''), which was incorrectly supposed to have been wiped out in the 1900s. In the meantime, a violence spire started with the murders of many leaders of both sides. Deprived of that leaders, the regime entered a general crisis, with extreme police use which led to a Dictatorship (1921-1930) during which the Senate was abolished. The Second Republic Parliament (1930-1939) In the first elections after the dictatorship, the republican parties lost by almost two thirds, but won in all province capitals and big cities (where ''caciquismo'' was not present). The King left Spain, and a Republic was declared. The Second Spanish Republic was established as a Presidential Republic , and Unicameral Parliament and a President of Republic being the Head Of State . He had the power to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister on the advice of Parliament (or just hearing it before) and to dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections. The first term was the constituent term, with the ex-monarchist leader Niceto Alcalá Zamora as President of the Republic and the Jacobin leader Manuel Azaña as Prime Minister. The majority in the Cortes (and thus, the Government) was held by a coalition between Azaña's party and the PSOE . A remarkable deed is Universal Suffrage , allowing women to vote, a provision highly criticized by Socialist leader Indalecio Prieto , who said the Republic had beed backstabbed. Also, for the second time in Spanish history, some regions were granted autonomous governments within the unitary state. Many extreme-right supporters rose in Sanjurjo against the Govern social policies, but the revolution was quickly wiped out. The elections for the second term were won by the coalition between the Radical Party ( Center ) and the CEDA ( Right ). Initially, only the Radical Party entered the Government, with the parliamentary support of the CEDA because of the rebellion threat if it did. But, at the middle of the term, corruption scandals sunk the Radical Party and the CEDA entered the Government. This led to rebellions by leftist parties that were quickly suffocated. In one of them, the left winged government of Catalonia (which had been granted home rule) rose against the central government (right winged). This provoked the disollution of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the imprisonment of their leaders. Then, the leftist minority in the Cortes told Alcalá Zamora "rebellions were consequence of social refusement to right-winged government" and advised him to call for new elections, what he did. The third elections were won by a small margin by the leftist parties, but the difference in seats was big due to the new electoral system (majoritarian instead of the old proportional) established by the right-winged government hoping to get a majority. The left coalition used a legal twist to dismiss Alcalá Zamora and put Azaña in his office: the Constitution stated that, if the President of the Republic dismissed the Parliament twice, and the newly elected Parliament thinks the last had been unjustified, it can appoint a new President. In fact, Alcalá Zamora ''did'' dismiss the Parliament twice, but the first should not be counted because the Constituent Parliament works and power ends the moment the Constitution it was assembled to make is finished. During the third term, the leftist coalition (called the Frente Popular) tried to wipe out right-winged opposition (including death menaces in the Parliament, readable today in the parliamentary Session Log). The already bad politic and social climate created by the long term left-right confrontation worsened, and many right-winged rebellions started. Then, in 1936, the Army's failed coup degenerated into the Spanish Civil War , putting the end to the Second Republic. The Cortes Generales under the Franco's regime (1939-1978) Attending to his words, Franco's intention was to replace the always-crashing Party System with an " Organic Democracy ", where the people could participate directly in the nation's politics without any parties. However, such "good" intentions were never materialized. Franco assumed the office of Head Of State for life, and established an Unicameral legislature (the Congress Of Deputies , or Legislative Assembly), made up by more than 400 "representatives" (Spanish ''procuradores'', singular ''procurador'') appointed by himself. There was little democracy during this period, but there was the possibility of Referenda , where only the family heads could vote. The regime started a shy opening process by the 1960s , with the boom in Tourism . REFERENCES
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