Los derechos históricos vascos: poder constituyente limitado o instituciones concretas

Abstract

The text examines some of the significant milestones of the evolution of the regional nature of Public Law in the Basque Country during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Said review attempts to discern the most characteristic element of regional law culture. More particularly, if regional law culture consists of a sum of traditional institutions subject to update, or if the relevance of historic rights rests on the attribution to their bearer of genuine constitutional capacity – although this may be limited by acceptance of the State’s political unity. In terms of the relationship between the State Constitution and Basque Regional Law, the text distinguishes four phases: the «Foral» or «Regional Law» era itself, which culminates between 1839 and 1841, the «Neoforal» period that goes up to 1876, and the period of Economic Agreements o «Conciertos Económicos», removed in 1936 in Biscay and in Gipuzkoa. It concludes with the happenings of the constituent process that started with the Transition to democracy. That was when the First Additional Provision of the Current Constitution was formulated, which recognised, in a tempered way, the historical rights of the territories of the Basque Country and which has likewise been subject to a singular case law interpretation.