In 1965 Oriol was nominated Minister of Justice, since 1938 the office held mostly by Traditionalists.
Oriol's appointment was part of Franco's balancing game; in this case, ministers related to ACNDP and Carlism provided counter-weight to these associated with Opus Dei.
His first main project was work on the 1966-adopted Ley Orgánica del Estado, major legislation which produced systematization and clarification of existing arrangements with minor reforms introduced; Oriol endorsed it claiming that the regime was in constant evolution.

A key thread of Oriol's work was dealing with Church issues.
From the onset busy with religious affairs, he co-ordinated work on the law on religious liberty.
The draft generated great tension especially among the Traditionalists; Oriol claimed the project complied with key civil rights but did not dismantle Catholic unity; the law was eventually passed in 1967.
Since the late 1960s he was involved in negotiations of a new concordat, a thorny issue related to increasingly anti-Francoist position of the Spanish Church.
He opposed changes advocated by the Vatican which would diminish official state prerogatives; following unsuccessful attempt to push through an own project in 1970, he officially hailed the existing regulations; confidential negotiations went on, but bore no fruit.
Another religion-related issue was the rising number of priests charged with political offences.
In 1968 Oriol set up a prison in Zamora, intended only for the religious.
In the 1970s he was increasingly involved in hardly veiled propaganda war with the hierarchy; he admitted some unease about Zamora, but still presented it as a model solution.
At the same time he voiced against “Marxist infiltration” among the clergy, demonstrated outrage at public statements of some hierarchs and took some religious appointments as personal insult.

As minister Oriol presided over continuous relaxation of the penal policy.
He declared that Spain “had the second lowest prison population in the world” after the Netherlands.
The number of inmates kept going down, paired with decreasing number of death penalties carried out; over 10 years there were 13 executions and 19 cases of clemency.
However, in the early 1970s Oriol admitted to 3,000 political prisoners; they were all subject to amnesty of 1971.
During his tenure he was also responsible for adoption of Ley Orgánica de la Justicia y de los Códigos Procesales Civil y Penal, the legislation which partially reformed and consolidated the civil and penal codes.

When summarizing his tenure some historians consider him “more of a technocrat than a politician”.
Indeed, he is not mentioned as major protagonist of power struggle within the Francoist regime of the era; however, he enjoyed personal confidence of Franco and was in position to mount own personal intrigues.
He confronted Javierista maneuvers.
In his capacity of minister he denied Spanish citizenship to Don Javier and tried to marginalize independent Carlism, claiming that all Traditionalists sided with the regime; he earned virulent hostility of the Carlist youth in return.
His monarchist efforts were crowned when in 1969 Don Juan Carlos was officially declared the future king.
In 1965 Oriol was nominated Minister of Justice, since 1938 the office held mostly by Traditionalists. Oriol's appointment was part of Franco's balancing game; in this case, ministers related to ACNDP and Carlism provided counter-weight to these associated with Opus Dei. His first main project was work on the 1966-adopted Ley Orgánica del Estado, major legislation which produced systematization and clarification of existing arrangements with minor reforms introduced; Oriol endorsed it claiming that the regime was in constant evolution.
A key thread of Oriol's work was dealing with Church issues. From the onset busy with religious affairs, he co-ordinated work on the law on religious liberty. The draft generated great tension especially among the Traditionalists; Oriol claimed the project complied with key civil rights but did not dismantle Catholic unity; the law was eventually passed in 1967. Since the late 1960s he was involved in negotiations of a new concordat, a thorny issue related to increasingly anti-Francoist position of the Spanish Church. He opposed changes advocated by the Vatican which would diminish official state prerogatives; following unsuccessful attempt to push through an own project in 1970, he officially hailed the existing regulations; confidential negotiations went on, but bore no fruit. Another religion-related issue was the rising number of priests charged with political offences. In 1968 Oriol set up a prison in Zamora, intended only for the religious. In the 1970s he was increasingly involved in hardly veiled propaganda war with the hierarchy; he admitted some unease about Zamora, but still presented it as a model solution. At the same time he voiced against “Marxist infiltration” among the clergy, demonstrated outrage at public statements of some hierarchs and took some religious appointments as personal insult.
As minister Oriol presided over continuous relaxation of the penal policy. He declared that Spain “had the second lowest prison population in the world” after the Netherlands. The number of inmates kept going down, paired with decreasing number of death penalties carried out; over 10 years there were 13 executions and 19 cases of clemency. However, in the early 1970s Oriol admitted to 3,000 political prisoners; they were all subject to amnesty of 1971. During his tenure he was also responsible for adoption of Ley Orgánica de la Justicia y de los Códigos Procesales Civil y Penal, the legislation which partially reformed and consolidated the civil and penal codes.
When summarizing his tenure some historians consider him “more of a technocrat than a politician”. Indeed, he is not mentioned as major protagonist of power struggle within the Francoist regime of the era; however, he enjoyed personal confidence of Franco and was in position to mount own personal intrigues. He confronted Javierista maneuvers. In his capacity of minister he denied Spanish citizenship to Don Javier and tried to marginalize independent Carlism, claiming that all Traditionalists sided with the regime; he earned virulent hostility of the Carlist youth in return. His monarchist efforts were crowned when in 1969 Don Juan Carlos was officially declared the future king.
Antonio María Oriol Urquijo