Competence issues on bullfighting

about its possible legal statement as cultural interest

Abstract

The recent popular legal initiative regarding the National Festivity as Heritage of Cultural Interest is the perfect occasion to analyse the constitutional distribution of bullfighting regulations. This distribution does not have a specific policy and has permitted Autonomous Communities to lay claim to this competence as public entertainment, which has been followed by bullfighting regulations. This competence attribution, however, only covers the regulations concerning the external aspects or the police administration of the bullfighting (administrative proceedings, the bullring requirements, the spectators’ rights…) but not those which deal with the purely internal aspects, that is, the regulations that were formulated technically and artistically a couple of centuries ago by Francisco Montes Paquiro (the bullfighting rules, the establishment of the bullfighter’s team, the use of the red cape, the trophies etc…) Because the only reason that justifies that the legislator (either state or autonomous) should interfere with the ins and outs of the bullfight is if there is a general interest in the show. And this, as these regulations confess, is none other than saving the “purity” of the Festivity. Therefore, by regulating technically and artistically, the legislator itself is admitting that it is a cultural heritage (a consideration which the High Court has been admitting for years) and that the competence on the internal aspects of bullfighting is therefore uniquely stately. Consequently, and if it has to be legislated, why not give the Festivity the exact constitutional concept: “Spanish Cultural Heritage”? And to be coherent, let this Law, and not a regulation, determine, albeit minimally, the structure and development of the bullfight from a technical and artistic point of view. Especially when there are solidly founded initiatives in parallel, in accordance with the UNESCO Convention of 17th October, 2003 – given that the requirements are fulfilled –, for bullfighting to be declared Immaterial Cultural World Heritage.