Spanish Constitution of 1837

The Spanish Constitution of 1837 was in effect from 1837 to 1845 and emerged from the political instability that followed the death of King Ferdinand VII in 1833, a period marked by the First Carlist War and conflict between liberal and conservative factions. Its principal legacy was to restore the most progressive features of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and to entrench constitutionalism, parliamentarism and separation of powers in Spanish law. It created a bicameral parliament, the Cortes, in which a broad electorate chose the lower Chamber of Deputies while the monarch appointed the upper house, the Senate, and the crown retained the power to convoke and dissolve the Cortes. Rather than universal suffrage, the constitution relied on a system of censitary suffrage that limited the franchise to those who paid taxes of at least two hundred reales, restricting the vote to roughly five percent of the population. It was superseded by the Constitution of 1845, which narrowed the franchise further and strengthened royal authority.