El divorcio como elemento constitutivo del orden jurídico de la Segunda República

The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was the first legal norm in the Spanish legal system to attribute the dissolution of the marital bond to divorce. Its drafting incorporated the foundational principles of republican ideology, particularly the defense of a secular State and the right to freedom of conscience, which required the republican legislator to adopt appropriate measures to ensure its realization in the realm of civil rights. This explains why the fundamental norm placed the family under the protection of the State, prescribed equality of both sexes in marriage, and established divorce as a constitutive element of the new legal order. The divorce law was approved in 1932, and its provisions sought to align with constitutional precepts, detailing the causes, effects, and conditions under which divorce could occur. Individual liberty underpinned the recognition of divorce based on the mutual agreement of the spouses, but social interest facilitated a divorce conditioned by the presence of certain causes outlined in the text of the law, which limited and restricted it.