Law of Political Responsibilities

Law of Political Responsibilities Ley de Responsabilidades Políticas
As published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado in 1939
Franco I
Territorial extent	Spain (Francoist regime)
Enacted by	Franco I
Enacted	9 February 1939
Status: Repealed

The Law of Political Responsibilities (Ley de Responsabilidades Políticas) was a law issued by Francoist Spain on 13 February 1939^[1] two months before the end of the Spanish Civil War. The law targeted all supporters of the Second Spanish Republic^[2] and penalized membership in the Popular Front of the defeated republic.^[3]

The law was modified in 1942 and remained in force until 1966.^[3] It was promulgated to give a legal cover to the repression carried out during the dismantlement of the Spanish republican institutions, as well as to penalise those who had remained loyal to the legally established government at the time of the July 1936 military rebellion against the Spanish Republic.^[4] It was a central piece of the Francoist repression in the postwar era, and an estimated half-a-million people were prosecuted.