Spanish Constitution of 1978

The Spanish Constitution is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain, enacted after its approval in a constitutional referendum in 1978, three years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, and it represents the culmination of Spain's transition to democracy. Spain had adopted dozens of constitutions and constitution-like documents before it, but the 1978 constitution is described as the first that was not imposed by a single party but instead represented a negotiated compromise among all the major political parties. It was sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I on 27 December 1978 and published in the Boletin Oficial del Estado, the government gazette of Spain, on 29 December, the date it took effect. Its promulgation marked the climax of Spain's transition to democracy following Franco's death on 20 November 1975, after nearly forty years of military dictatorship, a process that gradually transformed the Francoist regime into a democratic state. The constitution was drafted, debated and approved by the constituent assembly, the Cortes Constituyentes, elected in the 1977 general election, and upon taking effect it repealed all of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm that had constituted the Francoist regime's own constitution, along with other major historical laws and any pre-existing law that contradicted it.