a) This period includes three centuries (XVI-XVIII) but it can be said that under various aspects from the middle of the century. XV begins his preparation. Indeed, especially for Castile, its beginning coincides with the reign of the Catholic kings. b) Territorial rights, which have now become regional rights, triumph everywhere, to the detriment of local rights. All regions with legal personality collect their right in compilations of the same type. They are three, fundamental, in Castile and three in Catalonia; in Aragon they are very numerous, and are also found in all other regions. c) Legal autonomy receives a severe blow after the final victory obtained by the House of Bourbon in the war of succession. Valencian law disappears and Aragonese and Catalan law are very limited. d) As a supplementary right in Castile it still applies up to the century. XVIII, at least in theory, the Fuero Juzgo. In the other main territories it is entirely forgotten. e) Romanism, and with it also canon law, triumphs in Castile over indigenous law (derecho real) with the Partidas and especially by means of doctrine and applied law. From 1499 to 1505, in the absence of law, the texts of Bartolo and Baldo, among the Romanists, constituted law; of Giovanni Andrea and of the Panormitano, among the canonists. In 1505 the Cortes di Toro prescribed that in these cases the king be used. In Catalonia in the Cortes of Barcelona of 1599, under Philip III, firstly canon law and secondly Justinian Roman law were formally recognized as supplementary law. In Navarre the Cortes of 1576 accepted Roman law as a supplement. The canon law of the Council of Trent was received in Spain as a law in 1564 by Philip II, subject, however, to the gifts of the crown. f) There is a tendency towards legal unification, for the expansion of Castilian law. It intensifies with the house of Bourbon, and in the second half of the century. XVIII a reaction develops in favor of national law, practically Castilian, which begins to be moderately taught in universities, alongside common (Roman) and canon law. g) In this period the most beautiful irradiation of Spanish law with Indian colonial law takes place (Leyes de Indias). With regard to the sources, written law obtained primacy over the various forms of unwritten law; the power of the king dominates the cortes, which are largely replaced by the councils (Royal Council for the metropolitan territory; Council of the Indies for the colonies). These operate in the name of the king (Autos acordados). h) It is the classical era of legal literature, which reached its maximum splendor in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
According to thedresswizard.com, in Castile there are three general compilations: the Ordenamiento de Montalvo (1484), the Leyes de Toro (1505), the Nueva Recopilación (1567) and the Novíssima Recopilación (1805). 1. Ordeniamiento de Montalvo. Collection published under the title Libro de las leyes u Ordenanzas reales de Castillia: it collects the laws in force starting from Alfonso XI. It is very flawed: not complete, not faithful to the texts that it sometimes breaks, summarizes, recast, etc. It is not certain that it was promulgated and recognized as official. 2. Leyes de Toro. It is a collection of 83 laws in which some of the most important norms of the Partidas are officially interpreted, Fuero Real, etc. They are called di Toro because, prepared by petition of the Cortes of Toledo of 1502, they were approved in the cortes of Toro of 1505. 3. Nueva Recopilación. Since the Ordenamento de Montalvo did not satisfy the needs, Isabella la Cattolica in the codicile made in Medina del Campo in 1504 in her will, recommended that another more complete compilation be made. It was published by Philip II in 1567. It consists of 9 books distributed in titles and laws (there are about 4000). 4. Novísima Recopilación. In 1752 the Marquis De la Ensenada proposed to Ferdinand VI the publication of a fernandino codexsummarizing the legislation in one volume. There was a movement in favor of the project, but it failed. Charles III commissioned Lardizábal (the famous criminal lawyer) to prepare a supplement to la Nueva Recopilación containing the laws, etc., as early as 1745: it was done, but did not get approval. Charles IV entrusted the supplement to Reguera Valdelomar who, after having prepared it, proposed to make a new compilation. It was published in 1805 under the title Novísima Recopilación de las leyes de España, in 12 books.
In Catalonia: a) First compilation. In Catalonia the need to collect the dispersed laws and norms is felt very quickly, both for their immense size and for the language in which they are generally written (Latin). At the beginning there were private collections; with the century XV begins the work for the official compilation. In the Cortes of Barcelona of 1413, King Ferdinand I was asked to appoint two people who would translate the sources and order them systematically, and to deposit the originals in the archive so that collation could be made in case of doubt. They were designated by King Bonato Pere and Giacomo Callis. To these were added for the revision Narciso de San Dionís and Francisco Bonet. The ten-book collection follows the Justinian order, reducing the last three books to one. It was deposited in the archive where the Catalan text and the Latin text are found in two volumes. It is not known why it was not published. It was promulgated and printed only in 1495, under Ferdinand the Catholic. The laws given between 1413 and 1495 were added by inserting them in the appropriate places. b) Second compilation. After two ineffective attempts in 1533 and 1564, in the cortes of Monzón it was decided to appoint a commission which, taking up the work of the commission of 1564, would make a new updated compilation. Three delegates were appointed by the king and three by the cortes. These six delegates composed the second general compilation which is entitled Constitucions y further drets de Catalunya and was printed in 1588-89. It consists of three volumes. c) Third compilation. It was done by decision of the Cortes of Barcelona under Philip V (1702). He responded to the need to reprint the collection and complete it. A commission composed of three persons was appointed, namely, the abbot of San Cugat, and doctors Solà and Massanès. It is titled like the second, Constitucions y further drets de Catalunya, and is still in force (the last edition was made by the Colegio de Abogados in Barcelona, 1909).
After the war of rebellion in Catalonia in the time of Philip IV, the Count-Duke of Olivares suggested the abolition of Catalan law. Philip V, after the war of succession, immediately manifested the idea of unifying the law in the peninsula, depriving the rebel territories of their autonomy, namely: Aragon, Valence, Catalonia and Mallorca. In 1707 the Fueros of Valenza and Aragon were abolished, extending Castilian law to these two regions. Valencian law was never re-established; private Aragonese law, with some limitations, was again restored in 171).
In Mallorca private law was abandoned (1715, 1717, 1718), but everything that touched public law was abolished. For Catalonia in 1716 (January 16) he provided the decree called Nueva Planta ; with it the proper laws concerning public law were aolite, with the exception of some aspects of it, but civil and commercial law was confirmed.
