Council of the Realm


The Council of the Realm was a corporate organ of Francoist Spain, created by the Law of Succession to the Headship of the State of 1947. Within the institutional complex created to jezequize the regime of Francisco Franco, was the high council that advised the Head of State in the decision making of its exclusive competence. An antecedent of the Council of the Realm is the institution of the same name that appears in the Draft Constitution of 1929 of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera.

Composition

Permanent councilors:
Elective councilors, elected by vote by groups of procurators in the Cortes Españolas:
The President of the Council of the Realm was the President of the Cortes Españolas, and was appointed by the Head of State from a list of three names presented by the Council of the Realm.

Functions

The function of the Council of the Realm was to provide the Head of State with a list of three names to elect a President of the Government from among them. Likewise, the Head of State needed the Council of the Realm to dissolve or extend the legislatures of the Cortes Españolas, dismiss the President of the Government, as well as many other functions.

Presidents

During the life of Francisco Franco, the Council of the Realm was a pure formalism, because the only will was that of the Head of State.
With the accession of the King Juan Carlos I to the throne, the Council of the Realm facilitated the appointment of Adolfo Suárez as President of the Government, although also some councilors showed very reactionary positions to the 1977 Political Reform Act.
The democratic Cortes specified that this body would be dissolved after the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.