The Cortes of Aragon ( es, Cortes de Aragón, an, Cortz d'Aragón, ca, Corts d'Aragó) is the regional parliament for the Spanish

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

. The Cortes traces its history back to meetings summoned by the

Kings of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...

which began in 1162. Abolished in 1707, the Cortes was revived in 1983 following the passing of a Statute of Autonomy.

Early Cortes

The King of Aragon was bound to summon the Cortes at least once every five years, and, following the union with

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, annually. The main business of the Cortes was judicial: solving disputes between individuals or towns or dealing with complaints or grievances concerning the King's officers or Estates. The Cortes also approved legislation and voted on tax issues. The Cortes was organised into four Estates or branches: the clergy, the great nobles ( es, Ricos hombres), the Knights and the towns. For the more important laws, unanimity was required between each of the Cortes' four Estates (''nemine descriptante''). Each member could veto any law, in which case the decision would be recorded as ''unamiter excepto N.N.'' which allowed for further debates and discussions, although these often ended in stalemates with no agreement being reached. In such cases, the decision was referred to a permanent committee which consisted of two representatives of each Estate who would judge whether the existing majority will was sound or not. These Cortes were the model for the parliaments of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The Cortes survived until 1707 when

Philip V Philip V may refer to: * Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC) * Philip V of France (1293–1322) * Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598) * Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...

issued the Nueva Planta decrees, centralising political power and abolishing the former regional assemblies 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 ...

Current Cortes

The modern Cortes were established in 1983 under Article 12 of the Statute of Autonomy for Aragon. This statute also sets out the functions of the Aragonese assembly in Article 16 and these include the election of the President of Aragon, approving the actions and legislation of the President, creating legislation, amending the Constitution of Aragon and supervising any relevant planning or economic projects. It must monitor borrowing and spending and appoint an Auditor General for Aragon. Additionally the legislature must elect the appropriate number of Senators to serve in the

Spanish Senate The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. Th ...

Speakers of the Cortes

Party strength (1983-present)

Below is a summary of election results from the first Cortes election to the present. The largest party after each election is denoted in bold.

Presidents and Governments of Aragon

References

External links

Aragonese Cortes Homepage
{{coord, 41.656472, N, 0.896750, W, display=title 1983 establishments in Aragon Legislatures of the Spanish Autonomous Communities