Spanish confiscation

It was a long historical, economic, and social process beginning with the so-called "Confiscation of Godoy" in 1798—although there was an earlier precedent during the reign of Charles III of Spain—and ending on 16 December 1924.

Confiscation consisted of the forced expropriation of land and property from the "mortmains" (i.e., the Catholic Church and religious orders, which had accumulated it from grants, wills, and intestates) and from municipalities.

[note 1] The principal goal in Spain was to obtain money to pay off the public debt securities, known as vales reales, that the state issued to finance itself.

The government also hoped to increase national wealth, to create a bourgeoisie and a middle class of farmers who owned the lands they cultivated, and to foster capitalist conditions (e.g., privatization and a strong financial system) so that the state could collect more taxes.

Officials attributed the struggles of Spanish agriculture during the Ancien Régime to the amount of amortized property held by the "mortmains" (primarily the Church and municipalities).

Jovellanos's ideas, which were widely disseminated through his 1795 Report on Agrarian Law, influenced the liberals who launched the confiscations of the 19th century much more than Olavide's proposals, which were not as well publicized.

Two leaflets defending it were included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum of the Spanish Inquisition: Report on Agrarian Law (1795), by Jovellanos, and Treaty of the Royalty Payment of Amortization (1765), by Pedro Rodríguez, Count of Campomanes.

[7] In an effort to quell the Esquilache Riots in the spring of 1766, the corregidor-intendente of Badajoz ordered the renting of city property to "needy neighbors", with priority given to day laborers who could work the land.

[9] As Francisco Tomás y Valiente noted, the actions of Charles III were driven more by economic concerns (the need to farm uncultivated land) than by a desire for social reform.

[11] Charles IV obtained permission from the Holy See to expropriate land belonging to the Jesuits and other religious entities, including hospitals, hospices and residential colleges.

Two-thirds of the auction price would go toward the payment of national debt securities, which included the vales reales of the previous reign as well as new "notes of liquidated credit", which were issued from 1808 on to defray the expenses of the War of Spanish Independence.

[15] A decree on 4 January 1813 called for the confiscation of all disused solars in order to provide "relief" to non-landowning citizens and "an award for the meritorious defenders of the homeland".

[16] This decree was never carried out because of the return of Ferdinand VII and the absolute state, according to Francisco Tomás y Valiente, but it established the legal principles and mechanisms of subsequent confiscations.

On 9 August 1820, the new courts revalidated the Cortes of Cádiz's decree of 13 September 1813, but added properties obtained in the Spanish Inquisition to the list of confiscation targets.

One of these deputies declared that "the farms have been taken over by rich capitalists, and these, once they have taken possession of them, have made a new lease, generally increasing the rent to the poor farmer, threatening to spoil if they do not pay on time".

A few days later, on 11 October 1820, a law was issued prohibiting real estate purchases by mortmains, a measure first advocated in the 18th century by Rodríguez and Jovellanos.

[14] Small farmers could not enter competitive bids, and the land was bought by nobles and the urban bourgeoisie, preventing the development of a true middle class that could pull Spain out of stagnation.

During the bienio progresista period (at the forefront of which were Espartero and Leopoldo O'Donnell), Finance Minister Madoz carried out a new confiscation, which was executed with greater control than Mendizábal's.

It included the lands and censuses of the state; of the clergy; of the military orders of Santiago, Alcántara, Montesa and St. John of Jerusalem; of confraternities, sanctuaries and shrines; of a former infante, Don Carlos; and of the mortmains.

Confiscation had long been a subject of confrontation between conservatives and liberals, but there came a time when all political parties recognized the need to put idle assets to use in order to promote Spain's economic development.

According to the historian Richard Herr, one result of the confiscations was that the demographics of the two regions diverged dramatically based on the size of the lots put up for auction, and the structure of land ownership changed.

Many farmers were deprived of resources on which they depended for survival (e.g., firewood and pastures), which fueled the emigration of the rural population to industrialized areas of the country or to the Americas.

[24] Julio Caro Baroja has drawn attention to the figure of the old, exclaustrated priest, who—unlike young men, many of whom joined the Carlists or the National Militia—lived "enduring their misery, emaciated, teaching Latin in the schools, or doing other underpaid odd jobs".

Caro Baroja quotes the liberal progressivist Fermín Caballero, who wrote in 1837, shortly after the secularization, that "the total extinction of the religious orders is the most gigantic step Spain has taken in the present time; it is the real act of reform and revolution".

[28] Additionally, most ordinary Spaniards suffered because of the harm done to the subsistence economy when communal lands that had been used primarily for grazing passed into private hands.

[31][32] As a result of the confiscations, millions of hectares of forest fell into private hands and were cleared and plowed, causing immense environmental damage that is still visible today.