[The origins of the regulation of prostitution in contemporary Spain from Cabarrús's proposal (1792) to the Madrid Regulations (1847)].

The publication in 1847 of the Reglamento para la represión de los excesos de la prostitución en Madrid (Regulations for the repression of the excesses of prostitution in Madrid) inaugurated an era of regulated prostitution in Spain, which followed upon a period of abolitionism decreed by Philip IV. In view of the spread of prostitution and venereal diseases, police measures, and especially medical measures were both considered in the development of these regulations, which had first been proposed by the Count of Cabarrús in 1792. Allthough completely confidential, the new system of regulations, drawn up in 1847, set the stage for the wide-reaching regulation of prostitution that came into effect in several cities in Spain during and after the mid-nineteenth century, and which included city residence and periodic health surveillance for prostitutes.