The Corts Valencianes (), commonly known as ''Les Corts'' (), are the main legislative body of the
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
It consists of seven institutions including the ''Corts Val ...
and therefore of the
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
. The main location of the Corts is in the
Palace of the Borgias in
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
; however it can meet at any location in the Valencian lands. The Corts has its origins in bodies established in the thirteenth century by King
James I of Aragon
James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...
.
[Corts Valencianes y Furs, la obra de Jaume I](_blank)
Levante EMV, 3 April 2011 The modern institution was established in 1982 under the Valencian statute of autonomy of 1982. The current Corts were elected in 2019.
History
Following the conquest and reign of
James I of Aragon
James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...
, the economic and military needs of the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
justified some meetings of the king with representatives of the three social classes (the nobility, who controlled the military forces, the church and the middle class), to obtain military or financial services.
The economic needs justified those meetings, and at the beginning of the sixteenth century, a stable institution called the Corts Valencianes had already been established.
Among the meetings which were held during the reign of James I, the most important was that of 7 April 1261 in Valencia, during which the king promulgated the
Furs of Valencia
'' Furs'' of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Furs de València, ) were the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of the Middle Ages and early modern Europe. The laws were a series of charters which, altogether, worked similarly as a modern Consti ...
, a series of charters equivalent to a modern constitution.
Proof of the economic importance of the corts for the crown is that the king promulgated the ''Furs'' in exchange for the sum of 48,000, which were paid to him by the city of Valencia, by the cities of the
Horta de València
The Horta of Valencia ( va, L'Horta de València; es, Huerta de Valencia) is a historical comarca and urban area of Valencian Community. The Horta of Valencia consists of Valencia and three comarcas: Horta Nord, Horta Sud, Horta Oest.
Demogr ...
which belonged to the clergy and to the nobility, and by the towns of
Castelló,
Vilafamés
Vilafamés is a municipality located in the province of Castellón, Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populo ...
,
Onda,
Llíria
Llíria (; es, Liria) is a medium-sized town off the CV35 motorway to the north of Valencia, Spain. Known as ''Edeta'' in ancient Iberian times, it is the musical capital of the region. On October 30, 2019, Llíria was declared a Creative City ...
,
Corbera
Corbera is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ribera Baixa in the Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most popul ...
,
Cullera
Cullera () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Valencian Community. It is part of the province of Valencia and the Ribera Baixa ''comarca''. The city is situated near the discharge of the river Júcar in the Mediterranean Sea.
Ge ...
and
Gandia
Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acce ...
.
At the time of those corts, King James established a rule for his successors obliging them to organise a general cort in Valencia at the beginning of each reign,
in the first month after their entry into the city. This obligation was renewed during the corts of 1271, the corts were summoned by James I and later by his son
Peter III of Aragon
Peter III of Aragon ( November 1285) was King of Aragon, King of Valencia (as ), and Count of Barcelona (as ) from 1276 to his death. At the invitation of some rebels, he conquered the Kingdom of Sicily and became King of Sicily in 1282, pres ...
. Those Corts were the only obligatory meetings, but the king summoned the corts on other occasions when required.
In 1302,
James II decided that it was necessary to summon the corts every three years. Later, during the corts of 1336,
Peter IV confirmed this triennial meeting, by specifying that the corts were to meet every three years on
All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...
.
During the thirteenth century and at the beginning of the fourteenth, the representations of the other cities in the
Kingdom of Valencia
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
were gradually added, until the corts of 1239, during which the representations of various territories met, already constituting the corts of all the Kingdom.
From that moment, the most important cities always met, while others attended depending on the relevance to them of the subjects being discussed. However, the representation was generally important. For example, in the Corts of Valencia of 1510, the following towns were represented: Ademús, Alacant, Alcoi, Alpuente, Alzira, Biar, Bocairent, Borriana, Cabdet, Castelló,
Castielfabib
Castielfabib is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of the Valencian Community, ''comarca'' of Rincón de Ademuz in the Valencia (autonomous community), Valencian Community, Spain.
Geography
Known as "the small Albarrací ...
, Cullera, Llíria, Morella, Ontinyent, Orihuela, Penàguila, Peníscola, València, Vila Joiosa, Vila-real, Xàtiva, Xèrica and Xixona. Half of the assemblies took place in Valencia cathedral.
The Valencian Corts of 1418, fixed the duration of the corts at three years. In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Valencian institutions were definitively established.
With the unification of the crowns of Castille and Aragon, the Valencian corts declined in importance and were less frequently convened during the sixteenth century, a trend that continued in the seventeenth century. The last corts met in Valencia in 1645. Finally, after the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
and the new decree of 1707, the Kingdom of Valencia and its local rights were abolished.
The Corts Valencianes were not convened again until their reestablishment under the Statute of Autonomy of 1982. As of the coming into effect of the Statute of Autonomy, the Corts have operated like a modern representative legislature. Although usually meeting in the provincial capital of Valencia city, they have met in various towns around the Valencian community in recent years, an initiative which has been developed by the most recent legislatures.
Modern legislatures
The first legislature in modern times was elected in May 1983. The
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
(PSOE) won an absolute majority of votes and seats, with 51 of the 89 seats. However they lost their majority in 1987 and were forced to govern in coalition with the smaller United Left party. They won the 1991 elections with a majority of one seat, winning 45 seats in total. However, in the 1995 elections there was a swing to the right with the
People's Party (PP) becoming the largest party with 42 seats and governing in coalition with the smaller
Unió Valenciana (Valencian Union).
This lasted until the elections of 1999 when the PP won an absolute majority with 49 seats. Although they lost a seat in 2003, they strengthened their position in the elections of 2007 and 2011, winning a record 55 seats. In the 2015 elections PP lost the majority, and PSPV and
Compromís are governing in coalition.
Organisation, rules and composition
![Les Corts del País Valencià 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Les_Corts_del_Pa%C3%ADs_Valenci%C3%A0_1.jpg)
Following the passing of the statute of autonomy of the Valencian Community, which established local government for the region, the Corts became the regional assembly, elected every four years by universal adult suffrage.
The name originated in the historic Valencian Corts, however previous bodies of that name had different functions representing three institutions: the clergy, the military/nobility and the royal family.
The Statute of Autonomy primarily defines the Corts Valencianes in chapter II, title II, although there are also references in other articles. The Statute simply indicates the composition of Corts, its functions, the basic principles of the electoral system, and traces the general framework of the Statute of the Deputies. Laws which develop the Statute, the rules of the Corts Valencianes regulate the organization and the operation of the Corts. The first rules were adopted during the transition stage. Since that moment, the rules have been modified on various occasions; the current drafting was ratified on 30 June 1994.
The 1982 Statute of Autonomy states that the Corts will have a number of deputies ranging from 75 to 100. The current electoral law fixes the number at 99 deputies, divided according to the provinces and the electoral constituencies. Currently in the legislature 35 deputies are elected for the
Province of Alicante, 24 deputies for the
Province of Castellón
Castellón (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló) is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea ...
and 40 deputies for the
Province of Valencia
Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...
. The Statute of Autonomy also states that to be elected, candidates must belong to a list which obtains at least 5% of the total number of votes. Certain political parties and alliances who fail to achieve that threshold, cannot enter the Parliament. For lists which cross the 5% barrier, the distribution of seats is done according to the
D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
.
See also
*
List of presidents of the Corts Valencianes
*
Palace of the Borgias
*
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
It consists of seven institutions including the ''Corts Val ...
*
Kingdom of Valencia
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
*
Furs of Valencia
'' Furs'' of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Furs de València, ) were the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of the Middle Ages and early modern Europe. The laws were a series of charters which, altogether, worked similarly as a modern Consti ...
References
External links
Official website of the Valencian Parliament
{{Coord, 39, 28, 40, N, 0, 22, 28, W, region:ES-VC_type:landmark, display=title
1982 establishments in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...