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Remedios Ferrero Micó
Contrafueros were the tools used to preserve legality. During the Middle Ages, all the procedures to nullify royal decrees that contravened acts of parliament took place at the very beginning of the session of parliament. But starting in the sixteenth century, these decisions (contrafueros) were taken at the end of the session (when tax contributions to the king had already been decided) and in the framework of special commissions. The turning point in this process was the session of the Cortes of 1604. In this session, representatives of the three estates complained of 28 violations of acts of parliament involving some of the most remarkable problems of the time. In this regard, they protested against a decree (Pragmática) between 1586 and 1603 about the repression of bandits. They also denounced, among other things, irregularities incurred in the administration of justice; vindicated the jurisdiction of the baronial and supreme courts; asked that nobody should be jailed in a city other than his residence; raised questions on tax collection matters, and complained about the concession of dignities and church privileges to foreigners, and so on. Although the king agreed to nullify those decrees that contravened acts of parliament, he retained the power to dictate new decrees. So contrafueros became a formal means to establish a legality check that lacked effectiveness because the king could always ignore them when dictating new decrees.
