An Organic Law in Spanish law are laws related to fundamental rights and freedoms and important institutional areas as defined by the Constitution (including inter alia, statutes of autonomy, referendums and electoral processes, functioning and organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal, the organisation of the military and the succession of the throne). Organic Laws must be passed by an absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies (not merely a majority of those voting). In legal terms, organic laws are conceptually considered part of the constitution. Prior to the 1978 constitution this concept had no precedent in Spain. It was inspired by a similar concept in the current French Constitution of 1958 and conceived as a democratic safeguard to prevent authoritarian aspirations in the transition to democracy (they are harder to change).

Definition

The Spanish Constitution defines "Organic laws are those related to the development of fundamental rights and public liberties, those that approve Statutes of Autonomy, the electoral processes, and others foreseen in the Constitution." Spain has various types of laws including: There exists a hierarchy whereby laws that that contradict another of higher ranking are without legal validity. Organic laws rank behind the Constitution and international treaties but above all other types of law.

Examples

Concretely, organic laws include the following:

Approval

The Constitution states that "The approval, modification or derogation of organic laws requires an absolute majority of the Congress, in a final vote over the entire bill." That is to say, an organic law is presented as a bill (by the government) or by the Cortes Generales and must follow the same parliamentary procedures as an ordinary law. As the Constitution indicates, the principal difference in the process is that the Congress of Deputies must make a final vote, at the end of the entire process, where the law must obtain an absolute majority to be approved; for ordinary laws, this final vote is not required. The Constitution establishes the procedures for proposing a bill before the Cortes. "An organic law will regulate the forms of exercise and requisites for a popular initiative for the presentation of propositions of law. In all cases, no fewer that 500,000 accredited signatures will be required. There shall be no such initiative in matters proper to organic law, treaties or laws of international character, nor in relation to the prerogative of mercy." Therefore, the government, the Congress, the Senate and the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities can initiate the legislative processes that lead to the approval of an organic law. In contrast, popular initiatives are not permitted in this area.

Organic law as a source of law

In its more than 25 years existence, the Constitutional Court of Spain has made a particularly restrictive interpretation of the matters subject to organic law. The relation of organic law with ordinary law is not a hierarchical relationship but one of jurisdiction or scope.