La Renaixensa, defensora del dret civil català

Resum

The magazine La Renaixensa began publication in 1871 and became newspaper in 1881. The driving force behind the magazine was a group of young Catalanist university students who converted it into an opinion platform. The recovery of the freedoms lost 1714, the use of Catalan at every level, and the recovery of Catalan civil law were the principal areas of interest for the publication. Catalan civil law was the surviving remnant of Catalan law after the homogenisation that followed the implementation of the Decreto de Nueva Planta. Throughout the 19th century, the efforts to unify the legal system were obvious: in 1851, the first steps were taken to draft a single Civil Code; 1862, the Notarial Documents Act made the use of Spanish obligatory and exclusive. In legal and Catalanist circles Barcelona, the need to update and unify Catalan civil law was discussed. However, at the same time, there was fear that a discussion of the issue might lead to the disappearance of Catalan civil law. La Renaixensa published articles aimed at disseminating information on the basic principles of Catalan civil law: the freedom to make a will, the concept of the sole heir, the ease of acquisition of leased lands. In 1888, the Cortes (the Spanish Parliament) debated a new unified Civil Code, which, while not eliminating local law, restricted its sphere of influ- ence with a view towards eliminating it in the future. The debate triggered huge protests in Catalonia, protests that were disseminated and promoted by La Renaixensa. Students, poetry festivals and all sorts of institutions joined a protest that managed, thanks to the intervention of the regent, to stop the Cortes bill. This movement, in turn, contributed to the organization of the Catalanist movements.