The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fuero
FUERO (from the Latin forum), a Spanish
word signifying jurisdiction, law, privilege. It
is applied to the various written codes and
characters of particular districts, towns, etc., and
signifies generally those laws, privileges and
immunities founded on usage and sanctioned
by the suzerain or supreme authority. Fueros
are both civil and ecclesiastical. The earliest, as
well as the most universal, is the fuero juzgo.
This name (a corruption of the Latin forum
judicum) is given to a 13th century translation
of a code of the 17th century. It contains the
Gothic laws which, up till this time, gradually
superseded the Roman. Each law receives the
name of the Gothic sovereign by whom it was
promulgated. This code has formed the
foundation of Spanish law down even to modern
times. The fueros of Leon, known by the name

of fueros bonos, contain a complete constitution,
civil and ecclesiastical, recognize the rights of
self-taxation, and of the nobility of all subjects
by birth. The constitution of free towns under
these fueros is essentially republican, the king
having only a right to name the corregidor, who
must be confirmed by the junta of the province,
an assembly elected by a very liberal suffrage.
As the various monarchies became consolidated
under a single head, the kings became anxious
to evade or withdraw privileges which interfered
with the organization of their kingdom, and
after 1592 when Philip II entered Aragon with
an army, hanged the grand-justiciary, whose
office it was to administer the oath, and
abolished the constitution, the fueros as a political
institution ceased to exist, although some local
and municipal privileges continued to be called
by that name. In 1833 a civil war broke out in
the Basque provinces, in assertion of the fueros,
which were formally recognized in 1844. In
1876, however, the fueros of these northern
provinces were superseded by the general laws
of the kingdom. Consult Arias, M., ‘Fueros
observancias, actosde Cortes de Aragon’
(Saragossa 1907); San Martin, ed. ‘Los
códigas españoles’ (Madrid 1872-73).