Spanish Liberal Disentailment: Mendizabal and Madoz Laws

The Mendizabal and Madoz Disentailment Laws

The Liberal Progressive Secularization, also known as Desamortización, was a transformative period in Spanish history. This process was driven by specific socio-economic factors and legislative actions.

Causes of the Secularization Process

• A critical lack of public finance and state revenue.
• A liberal ideology that prioritized and defended the private property of the individual.
• The bourgeoisie's desire to imitate the status and land-owning power of the nobility.

Mendizabal's General Disentailment Law

Under this framework, two major structural changes were implemented regarding property ownership in Spain:

1. The Amendment of Noble Property

The Law of Alienation of Noble Heritage was passed in 1836. This legislation prohibited the existence of entailed estates (related properties) and granted owners the right to sell land with absolute freedom. However, the application of this law was highly conflicted. It required identifying the legal owner, which was complicated by the distinction between territorial and jurisdictional estates.

• If the manor was jurisdictional, the owners were considered the farmers.
• If the territorial dominion was established, the sole owner was the lord (señor).

The government refused to intervene directly in these disputes, moving them to the courts to be treated on a case-by-case basis. While exact records are incomplete, great noble families often managed to maintain full ownership of their lands. Disputes over these decisions continued well into the late nineteenth century.

2. The Change of Clerical Ownership

This amendment was adopted in 1837. The law was structured to achieve several key objectives that aligned with the broader goals of secularization:

Objectives of the 1837 Reform

• Financial Objective: To pay off the public debt held by the State and to meet the heavy costs of the Carlist Wars.
• Political Objective: To increase the number of supporters for the liberal regime by creating a group of property owners (the bourgeoisie) whose interests were tied to the government's success.
• Social Objective: To articulate and develop a middle class based on rural agricultural properties.

The Nationalization and Auction Process

To achieve these objectives, the State suppressed religious orders, with the exception of those dedicated to teaching or hospital care. The properties were declared national property, a process that also affected the secular clergy. These nationalized lands were sold at public auction. Buyers could pay the amount in cash or by purchasing government bonds at a set value, which often exceeded the actual market value of the land.