The Constitutional Court as “defender of the historical rights of the foral territories”: comment of the STC 118/2016, of June 23, on the new system of impugnation of the fiscal Foral Regulations

Authors

  • Javier Tajadura Tejada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/redc114.08

Keywords:

Historical rights, due process, constitutional jurisdiction, ordinary jurisdiction.

Abstract

The Organic Law 1/2010 submitted the fiscal Foral Regulations to the control of the Constitutional Court and not of the ordinary jurisdiction. This study analyzes the sentence in which the Constitutional Court declared the constitutionality of the law. The sentence is based on two premises: the constitutional empowerment of the organic legislator to create new constitutional processes and the constitutional legitimacy of the end pursued with them (the protection of historical rights). The Court rejects the two consistent objections raised by the appellants: the constitutional prohibition of changing the constitutional resources directly established by the constituent (without it being accepted that the formal creation of new resources may serve to fraudulently evade the prohibition) and the constitutional illegitimacy of the purpose of the law. The objective was to reduce the scope of due process. But it can not be accepted that the reform is protected by the historical rights of the foral territories.

Issue

Section

JURISPRUDENCE. CRITICAL STUDIES