Spanish Constitution 1978: Titles, Central & Territorial Administration

Spanish Constitution of 1978

Preliminary Title

The Preliminary Title of the Spanish political order defines and establishes the principles underpinning the state.

Title I: Fundamental Rights and Duties

Title I protects the individual against others and against public authorities to ensure their implementation as humans.

Title II: The Crown

Title II sets out how the state policy is a Spanish parliamentary monarchy.

Title III: General Courts

Title III establishes a bicameral parliament that is in charge of exercising the legislative power of the state.

Title IV: Government and Administration

The Government directs domestic and foreign policy, the civil and military administration, and the defense of the state. With objectivity, the Public Administration serves the general interests and acts according to the principles of effectiveness, hierarchy, decentralization, deconcentration, and coordination, with full subordination to the law and rights.

Title V: Relations Between the Government and Courts

The government responds in solidarity in its management policy to the Congress of Deputies. The Cortes Generales exercise the legislative power of the state, approving budgets and controlling the government's actions.

Title VI: Judiciary

The Judiciary is formed by a collective of judges integrated into courts that are independent, irremovable, responsible, and solely under the law.

Title VII: Economy and Finance

Title VII reflects the guiding principles of economic and social policy. The wealth of the country, in its different forms, is subject to ownership interest. The state, through law, can plan economic activity to meet collective needs, balance and harmonize regional and sectorial development, and stimulate the growth of income and wealth and its equitable distribution.

The Administration of the Central State

• Central Administration: Formed by the government and ministries that implement state policy, with headquarters in Madrid and some services in their peripheral dimension.
• Peripheral Administration: Represented by government delegates in the autonomous communities, it is in charge of directing and supervising the services in its peripheral dimension.
• Functional Administration: Comprising the autonomous agencies, corporate public entities, the managing entity of Social Security, and public bodies with a specific system.

Bodies of Control of the Administration

• Board of State: Issues opinions to the government proposed by the president, ministers, and presidents of the Autonomous Communities.
• Economic and Social Council: An advisory body of the government, it publishes opinions and produces studies and reports on issues within its competence.
• Court of Accounts: Examines the general accounts of the state and controls public expenditure.

Organization of the Territorial State

The Spanish state is a unit but politically decentralized, with autonomous territorial organizations composed of:

• Municipalities: The basic local entity of the state's territorial organization, it has legal personality, and its framework is municipal action. The government and administration correspond to the Council plenum, which is made up of the Mayor and Council.
• Provinces: Comprising a group of municipalities, they have legal personality. The national government is the full deputation, consisting of the president and the provincial deputies elected by the councilors of the provinces.
• Autonomous Communities: Manage their own interests. They have political, organizational, regulatory, and financial autonomy. The statutes reflect the powers of autonomy assumed by each community, the institutions of its political and administrative organization, financing sources, and pathways of statute reform.