El pactisme a Catalunya: una concepció dual de la comunitat política

Abstract

This article gives a historiographic definition of «pactism» that became a model followed by institutions, a doctrine and a practice in Europe in the High Middle Ages and acted as a counterbalance to the modern concept of «monarchical sovereignty» of the 16th a 17th century. The reason is that the English and Dutch models gave pre-eminence to the Parliament after a historical confrontation with the monarchical absolutism. The Institutional pactism concept, in Catalonia, was one of most elaborate. So, it establishes the fundamental items of the Catalan juridical pactism, off shoot of the romanist ius commune and the interpretative studies, and also off the initial public law, developed by the lawyers. It distinguishes different kinds and degrees of iurisdictio, universal, general and special and it defines concepts such as «populus », «constitutio populi», «imperium» and counterfeits. On the other hand, it points out, the different legal instruments that the Generals Courts have, to promulgate laws (constitutions, court chapters and court acts), the limits of the royal authority, the composition of the Generalitat (General de Catalunya) and the role of the three ranks in Catalonia. Furthermore, it explores the procedure for the creation of constitutions, that was established during the Montsó General Court in 1585, while pointing out the recent discovery of the manuscript El llibre de vuit senyals, that allows us to determine a more accurate date of the origin of the institution (1289, 1291, 1359 i 1376), and a clearer knowledge of it's financial goals, it's procedures and protections. Finally, this article introduces the notion of the duality concept of the political community as a well-founded interpretative thesis that makes sense, in a comprehensible way, of the evolution of the Catalan public law in the Middle Ages.