The shared sovereignty of the 1876 constitution in comparison to the national sovereignty of the 1812 constitution

Abstract

The Constitution of 1812 marked the beginning of Spain’s constitutional history and became a symbol of liberalism. The development of its ideas took pla­ce intermittently throughout the 19th Century until branching off into a constitutional model, as envisa­ged by Cánovas del Castillo. The basis for this was the so-called “internal constitution” which implied a so­vereignty shared between the Parliament or “Cortes” and the King.