Cortes: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Cortes Generales ("General Courts"), usually referred to only as the Cortes, are the national legislative assembly of Spain.

The term Cortes is also used for the subnational parliaments of several of Spain's autonomous communities and various bodies from Spanish history.

Corte

In the Spanish-speaking American republics, the word corte is most commonly used to designate courts of law: organs of the judiciary, not of the legislative branch. Thus, several Latin American countries have supreme courts known as the Suprema Corte or Corte Suprema, and the continent's San José-based Inter-American Human Rights Court is the Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Additionally, the official name of the International Criminal Court is Corte Penal Internacional for all varieties of Spanish.

In Spain itself, the word for a legal court tends to be tribunal or juzgado.

For the 16th century Spanish conquistador, see Hernán Cortés.