Liberals and liberalism in the hispanic world. A historiographical reflection on pouvoir constituant (1808-1812)

Abstract

This article challenges the appropriateness of the term «liberal» when dealing with the Cádiz Constitution of 1812, underlying the fact that this document was one of the results of the «hispanic constitutionalism» that had emerged after the crisis of the Monarchy in 1808. For that purpose, the historical foundations of this constitutional model are analysed, focusing in particular on the study of the limitations assumed by the Cortes Generales y Extraordinarias by means of the oath taken at the very moment of its establishment as the representative body of the Nation.