Notary Isidre Bartumeu is a new doctor of Constitutional Law. The presentation of his doctoral thesis in the great hall of the University of Barcelona became an act of support for the political, economic and civil society of the Principality. The Episcopal Co-Prince, Joan-Enric Vives, and the Head of Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, were the most prominent attendees of the more than 200 people who were present.
The thesis, entitled “The co-princes in the institutional development of the Principality of Andorra, from the feudal Lordship to the sovereign, democratic and social State of law”, obtained the qualification of excellent cum laude from the tribunal presided over by the dean of the Faculty of Law of the UB, Xavier Pons. The work carried out by Bartumeu constitutes a learned and complete work, the result of exhaustive and meticulous research work, which delves into the relevance of the co-princes and the background that has allowed Andorra to become a sovereign State.
In the thesis, Bartumeu addresses the link between the Andorran institutions and the Co-Principality “as a unique conceptualization of Andorra’s own regime, configured progressively from medieval times, in classical feudalism between the 11th and 13th centuries”. Bartumeu defended that the institutional development of the Principality for more than 1,000 years has been linked to the interaction of the co-princes and the popular-based government bodies and “is the ultimate reason for the historical existence of a small country nestled between two large states and also of the progressive configuration as a different entity, independent and sovereign entity”.
