Law 8/2022, 11th november, on contractual succession on Balearic Islands law: a view from Eivissa and Formentera

Abstract

The approval of Law 8/2022, of November 11, on pacified or contractual voluntary succession of the Balearic Islands constitutes a historical milestone in the development, protection and recognition of civil rights in the archipelago in hereditary matters, compared to what until now was foreseen, in a very limited way, in the respective books of the Compilation of Civil Law of the Balearic Islands. We are facing a text, drafted by the Advisory Council of Civil Law of the Balearic Islands, with the participation of the Advisory Council of Civil Law of Eivissa and Formentera, which has been fully assumed by the Parliament of the Balearic Islands, and has been unanimously approved, and meteorically, between July 20 and October 25, 2022. The exposition of motives and the regulatory text show, in matters of pacified or contractual succession, the innate existence, of the «strict» Balearic Islands (Mallorca and Minorca), on the one hand, and of the Pitiüses Islands, on the other. And the respective civil rights, which under this rule have been duly updated and modernized, without prejudice to preserving the principles that are their own and characteristic of them. The civil law of Eivissa and Formentera presents with the new law, even more samples of succession agreements than the civil law of Mallorca (and Minorca). Regulation transcends, in all the archipelago, mere civil regulation, and also affects the consideration of the respective civil rights as key elements of the culture and character of each island. The strengthening of civil competition, by the set of autonomic powers, is clearly evidenced; and a path begins that may involve an organic expansion of those civil rights in an undoubted way.