Francisco Tomás y Valiente (8 December 1932 – 14 February 1996) was a Spanish jurist, historian, and writer. He was professor of

history of law Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and hist ...

in the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; UAM), commonly known as simply la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous Univers ...

. He presided Spain's

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

from 1986 to 1992. He was assassinated by

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

in 1996. His killing led to between 850,000 and 1 million people marching in protest through Madrid, headed by the then Prime Minister,

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...

(

PSOE 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 ...

), and the leaders of all mainstream political parties. Regarding the definition of "state", Tomás y Valiente declared that without a state there could be neither Law nor rights, only chaos ("Sin Estado no hay ni Derecho ni derechos, solo hay caos"). Likewise, as an expert in the

history of Law Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and hist ...

, he was convinced that the Law does not suffice without goodwill, and he was especially concerned about two particular risks, of four, that he perceived in Spain's political system: the lack of goodwill in co-operating and the

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

' haste in reaching their maximum degree of autonomy. Miguel Artola Gallego (1996
"Tomás y Valiente: Obra Incompleta", p. 10. in ''Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia'', TOMO CXCIII. NUMERO I. AÑO 1996
At Google Books. Retrieved 28 July 2013.

Publications

*''El derecho penal de la monarquía absoluta: (siglos XVI - XVII - XVII)'' (Ed. Tecnos, 1969) *''El marco político de la desamortización en España'' (Ariel, 1971) *''La Tortura Judicial en España'' (Ariel, 1973) *''La Tortura en España'' (Ariel, 1974) *''Manual de historia del derecho español'' (Técnos, 1983) *''Gobierno e instituciones en la España del Antiguo Regimen'' (Alianza Editorial, 1999)

References

1932 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Spanish judges People killed by ETA (separatist group) {{Spain-law-bio-stub

Publications

See also

References