THEOLOGY AND POLITICO-LEGAL POPULARIZATION OF MARTYRDOM IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSAL MONARCHY

The choice of the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas to formulate a theory of martyrdom present in the Hispanic Modern Age corresponds to the evident fact of its value as foundation of the Second Scholasticism theology, in the quality of builderof the philosophical and theological tendency that laid the foundations for the renovation of natural Law: an intellectualist iusnaturalism, contrary to voluntarism, which meant the Catholic orthodoxy and constituted, under the counter-reformist spirit, the basis of a reinterpretative and original thinking embodied by the modern jurists and theologians in their treatises and commentaries in order to acquire a political and legal connotation with regard to the legitimation of the nature and aimsof Universal Monarchy.

PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKERSHIP: FROM INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERSHIP TO THE COLLECTIVE DIRECTION OF PARLIAMENTARY WORK

The article explains the evolution of the parliamentary speakership in different countries of continental Europe in the XIX and XX centuries. The text focuses on three questions in order to define how the speakership was shaped in the parliaments that emerged from the liberal revolution: the procedure by which the speaker was elected, the duration of his mandate and his functions. Starting from the definition of the initial model, it analyzes how after the II World War the direction of parliamentary work evolved towards a shared model involving three bodies. These were the speakership itself, the bureau of the chamber and the conference of presidents of the parliamentary groups, with functions delimited among the three bodies and the speakership maintaining those competencies that had necessarily to be performed by a unipersonal body.

ENACTMENT AND PUBLICATION OF LAWS IN THE KINGDOM OF NAVARRE

The development process of a law in Navarre brings to light some particularly interesting features, one of which has still not been studied by the historians of our country: Parliament’s power to prevent a law approved by the King from ever coming into force. This was done by not including this approved petition in the documents required so that the Viceroy could sign the General Patent, by which the laws, once published in ‘las cabezas de Merindad’ (districts) of the Kingdom, would become effective.

CONTROLLED REMUNERATION. ABOUT THE REMUNERATION OF SENIOR OFFICIALS AND DIRECTORS IN STATE-OWNED COMPANIES

Controlled remuneration in state-owned companies, or those assisted by the state - giving them grant-in-aids -, is a matter that raises a certain sensibility. Therefore, there’s a need to combine - particularly in the corporate scope - the concept of transparency and good corporate governance. This sensitivity, which is increasingly demanded within private companies, shall be even more pronounced within the public business sector. The worldwide-known concept of Corporate Governance has been developing an essential leading role for years, which is directly linked to the desire of having companies with better functioning. In this sense, and as an example, the most recent expression of this can be found in the Law of Spain, exclusively with regard to the private sector, in the Act 21/2014, of 3rd December, by which the Spanish Capital Company Act is consolidated for the amelioration of corporate governance. Among the introduced amends, the most highlighted ones are notably those affecting the governing body. For instance, the duties of diligence and loyalty are specified and there’s a more detailed regulation of the liability regime of administration members regarding management, organization and functioning of the board of directors, enhancing its supervising role in terms of performance of directors with executive functions and, more specifically, establishing stricter controls on remuneration of senior official positions.

EXPLORING SOME OLD AND NEW ETHICAL ISSUES IN CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY

Interest in the development of evidence-based policies for the public management of the control and treatment of crime seems to be the position that will become dominant in the coming years. In this context, it is important for policy makers to know that while social research is surrounded by many ethical dilemmas, criminological research, because of the particular sensitivity of its subject matter and the profound implications of its findings, must emphasise the responsibility of researchers and provide criteria and principles that properly guide their research. To respond to this new context, this paper introduces, as examples of its variety, some of the traditional ethical challenges of criminological research, such as the effective obtaining of consent, as well as some of the new challenges involved in the use of predictive algorithms by criminal justice system operators. We conclude by highlighting the necessity of considering the ethical dimension of criminological research as one of the necessary elements that legislators must assess to critically accept scientific evidence as legitimate.

THE USE OF “EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE?” IN THE SPANISH CRIMINAL LEGISLATIVE PROCESS FROM 1992-1995 TO THE PRESENT

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the introductory texts of the various Organic Laws that have shaped the text of our current Criminal Code over the last 25 years. Recourse to these introductory texts (whether they are Explanations of Reasons or Preambles, as we shall see below) is obligatory -at least as a first source of information- if we wish to know which have been throughout this period the reasons given by the different criminal legislators for undertaking the multiple reforms that have been approved and came into force. As a methodological alternative, we could have resorted to the reports that the different governments have been sending to Parliament to justify the initial bills of all the Organic Laws analysed, in order to appreciate a perhapsmore “pure” version of the reasons of the legislative promoter; however, apart from the fact that the information contained in both types of justification-explanation text usually coincides in essence, that of the Organic Laws offers more up-to-date information that is in line with the final text of the approved regulation and, above all, it is much easier to access it, without having to make an individual request for the documentation attached to each bill to the “Office of Documentation, Library and Archives” of the Congress of Deputies