Principle of equality and anti-discrimination principle in the Spanish legal system

Abstract

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 enshrines the principle of equality and the anti-discrimination principle as two fundamental elements of individuals' rights to receive equal treatment in legal settings and in the application of the law by public authorities and private parties. However, Articles 9.2 and 14 of the constitution regulate both formal and substantive equality in a very concise manner. Anti-discrimination law in its proper sense has been developed both by the legislature and by jurisprudence, primarily by the Constitutional Court. This descriptive work outlines the normative and jurisprudential development of the right to equality and the anti-discrimination right, starting from constitutional provisions, with the aim of bringing the reader closer to a legal system that has evolved exponentially over forty years, despite approaching the principle of equality with a restrictive and essentially relational view, which makes it difficult to advance in contemporary notions such as intersectional discrimination or parity within the framework of representation.