Constitutions of Catalonia

The Constitutions of Catalonia (Catalan: Constitucions de Catalunya) or Catalan constitutions (Catalan: Constitucions catalanes, IPA:) were the laws of the Principality of Catalonia introduced and promulgated by the Count of Barcelona and passed by the Catalan Courts (the parliament). Being the continuation of the legal framework of the Usages of Barcelona, the first constitutions passed by the Courts were promulgated in 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Corts of 1705-1706. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules, including royal decrees, and could only be revoked by the Catalan Courts themselves. The compilations of the constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex.

Despite never being formally repealed, the constitutions referring to public law were de facto suspended by the Nueva Planta Decree of 1716, an absolutist imposition of Philip V of Spain, while it left intact those referring to private, mercantile and criminal law. the last two were suspended throughout the 19th century, however, the private law survived and was codified and modernized via the current Civil Code of Catalonia. The recent efforts to reestablish and update part of the public law within the framework of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, as Navarre and the Basque provinces enjoy, has been unsuccessful due to the opposition of the Spanish judiciary.