Judiciary of Spain

Convent of the Royal Sales, headquarters of the Supreme Court

The Judicial Power of Spain is one of the three great powers of the Spanish State represented by the set of courts and tribunals, made up of judges and magistrates, who have the power to administer justice. According to the Spanish Constitution, justice emanates from the people and is administered in the name of the king. It is a single power for the entire State that has judicial offices at the regional level in the different autonomous communities of the country, represented by the Superior Courts of Justice or the Superior Prosecutor's Offices. At the apex of Spain's judiciary is the Supreme Court, while the Constitutional Court is not part of the judiciary.

Exclusively to said courts and tribunals corresponds the exercise of jurisdictional power, judging and enforcing the judgment. In the exercise of said power, the courts and tribunals know and decide all the jurisdictional processes of the civil, criminal, contentious-administrative, social and military orders. The knowledge and decision of said processes consists of the processing and pronouncement on the merits of the matter raised by the parties, be they authorities or individuals.

Also, in the cases in which the law allows it, the courts and tribunals are in charge of the knowledge and decision of some matters that do not give rise to contention between parties, in the so-called processes of voluntary jurisdiction, currently regulated in law 15 /15 Law of voluntary jurisdiction, since the majority of acts of voluntary jurisdiction have been left in the hands of the Lawyer of the administration of Justice. These are mainly the notarization of holographic wills (written by the testator in his handwriting) and other civil acts that require judicial intervention.

Likewise, the judges of first instance and, where appropriate, the justices of the peace, are in charge of the civil registry, being responsible for the custody and keeping of the books that record the birth, marital status, the facts that affect the ability to act and the death of people.

Regulation

Article 1 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 (EC) indicates that Spain is constituted in a social and democratic State of Law, which advocates as superior values of its legal system freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism.

This principle is developed in Title VI of the Constitution, referring to the Judiciary (arts. 117 to 127), as well as by Organic Law 6/1985, of July 1, on the Judiciary, modified by Laws Organic 19/2003, 20/2003 and 2/2004.

Principles

The Constitution guarantees respect for the essential principles necessary for the proper functioning of the Judiciary; these principles are impartiality, independence, irremovability, responsibility and legality.

• Principle of impartiality: In guarantee of the effective judicial guardianship assured to all citizens by the Constitution, the Organic Law of the Judiciary prohibits the intervention of Judges and Magistrates in the knowledge and decision of matters in which they may be interested as a party, either in a personal capacity or as representatives of other persons. Judges and Magistrates are obliged to refrain from hearing or deciding such matters, and in the event that they do not do so may be challenged by the injured party; a higher court will hierarchically decide the challenge incident and, if it is well established, remove the judge or judge from the case.

These are causes of recusal, among others, the manifest intimate or enmity of the judge or magistrate with the parties or their lawyers, prosecutors, experts and witnesses; it is also kinship up to the fourth or second degree consanguineous, according to the cases, with the same persons.

• Principle of independence: The courts and tribunals are independent of any authority or person in the exercise of their jurisdiction, including in respect of higher courts and the governing bodies of the judiciary.

• Principle of immobility Judges and magistrates are unmovable and cannot be transferred, suspended, separated or retired, but because of the cases and guarantees established by law.

This means that, outside such cases and in accordance with that procedure, no one may temporarily or definitively prevent a judge or Magistrate from remaining in his or her position and free exercise, i.e. any form of interference in the Judicial Service is proscribed.

• Principle of responsibility: Judges and magistrates are personally responsible for disciplinary and criminal offences committed in the exercise of their functions; this liability may only be required by the legally established disciplinary procedure, without interference from the executive and legislative branches, or through the ordinary criminal procedure.

• Principle of legality: In the exercise of their jurisdictional functions, judges and magistrates are subject to the Constitution and the rest of the legal system, as are the rest of the authorities and the whole of the citizens.

As an informative principle of judicial processes, not expressly included in art. 117.1 EC:

• Principle of contradiction Principle that inspires the development of judicial proceedings and which consists of the possibility of the parties to discuss the legal and factual aspects of the dispute.

Extension

The Organic Law of the Judiciary begins by delimiting the jurisdictional extension of the Spanish Courts and Tribunals, making a generic reference to trials that take place in Spanish territory between Spaniards, between foreigners and between Spaniards and foreigners.

However, the Law itself is in charge of making a more precise and exhaustive delimitation of the extension of the Spanish jurisdiction depending on the jurisdictional order in question.

Civil order

In addition to the general territorial principle, the civil order receives the express attribution of competence from a heterogeneous set of specific assumptions. These assumptions fall into three categories:

• Exclusive assignment: Includes multiple cases of civil law (Real property rights in Spain, for example), of consumer law. To the same extent, competences on interim measures are attributed concerning persons or property in Spanish and to be carried out in Spain.
• General attribute: Includes the case in which the defendant has his domicile in Spain. It shall rule in the absence of more specific provision on the specific case.
• Voluntary allocation: The Spanish judiciary is aware of the matter that the parties have expressly or tacitly submitted to the Spanish jurisdiction. It is legally included as a general attribution.

Criminal order

Regarding the criminal order, the Law attributes in a general way knowledge of causes for crimes committed in Spanish territory or committed on board Spanish ships or aircraft, without prejudice to the provisions of international treaties in which Spain is a part.

Along with the general case, of a territorial nature, the Law also attributes jurisdiction to the criminal order to hear certain cases committed outside the national territory. Within these extra-territorial powers, two categories can be distinguished.

The first would encompass crimes committed abroad by Spaniards or nationalized foreigners after the commission of the crime typified in the Penal Code of Spain. On the other hand, the crime must be punishable in the place where it was committed and a complaint must be filed before Spanish Courts, also requiring that the offender has not been acquitted, pardoned or sentenced abroad.

The second category is characterized by encompassing especially serious crimes (terrorism, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, human trafficking, etc.) committed abroad by foreigners; by Spaniards abroad or by foreigners in Spain. Originally, this category responded to the principle of universal jurisdiction reserved for the most severe violations of Human Rights.

Later, the principle of Spanish universal jurisdiction would be annulled by virtue of Organic Law 1/2009, complementary to the Law on the reform of procedural legislation for the implementation of the new Judicial Office, which modifies the Law Organic 6/1985, of July 1, of the Judiciary.

In this way, through the reform of the Judicial Office, the jurisdictional extension was modified, requiring a relevant connection link with Spain so that the Spanish Courts could hear crimes committed by foreigners in the foreigner.

In order for the Spanish Courts to be aware of the previous crimes, it must be credited that their alleged perpetrators are in Spain or that there are victims of Spanish nationality, or to find any relevant connection with Spain and, in any case, that in another competent country or within an international tribunal no procedure has been initiated that entails an effective investigation and persecution, if any, of such punishable acts.

Organic Law 1/2009, supplementing the Law on the Reform of Procedural Law for the Implementation of the New Judicial Office

Contentious-administrative order

The general power attribution of the contentious-administrative Order has a fundamental personal component that falls on the Public Administrations and other public powers of Spain.

Specifically, the Law establishes that the contentious-administrative Jurisdiction will hear the claims deduced from acts and general provisions of the public Administrations of Spain.

Social order

The social order competencies can be classified into three groups. The first, related to the rights and obligations derived from the employment contract, follows mixed criteria (territorial-personal). Among others, it will know about the contracts entered into in Spain, those services that are provided in Spain and even those contracts in which both the worker and the employer are Spanish, even when the service is provided or is celebrated abroad. the contract.

The second group includes cases related to the verification of the legality of collective agreements entered into in Spain or collective conflicts developed in Spanish territory.

Finally, the third group mentions the processes related to the Spanish Social Security, knowing the social order of those in which Spanish entities intervene or that have domicile, agency, delegation or any other representation in Spain .

Organization

The governing body of the Judiciary is the General Council of the Judiciary. The members of this council are proposed by Congress and the Senate. Its president is also president of the Supreme Court. Both the courts and the governing bodies of the judiciary exercise their functions in accordance with the criteria of objective, territorial, and functional competence. Territorially, Spain is organized into municipalities, judicial districts, provinces and autonomous communities.

Courts

The courts are organized into territorial and subject jurisdictions, ordinary and special jurisdiction. The diversity of matter requires the specialization of the courts, there are ordinary and special jurisdictions.

• Ordinary: civil, criminal, administrative and social.
• Special: the military, customary courts (such as the Water Court of the Vega of Valencia) and the court of jurisdictional conflicts.

The Court of Accounts (it depends on the Cortes Generales) and the Constitutional Court are not, which, if they were part of the Judiciary, would result in the latter being able to control the Constitution and breaking the division of powers established therein. Even so, both "courts" they assimilate (to a large extent) the way of proceeding of the ordinary courts of justice.

The courts are made up of a single person (the judge), and the courts are made up of several people (magistrates) who make their decisions collegiately.

The courts are those whose mission is to administer justice, that is, to judge and enforce what has been judged. They can be individual (courts served by judges and courts served by magistrates-judges) and collegiate (audiences and courts).

The judicial organization of the State is territorial in municipalities, judicial districts (which are one or more neighboring municipalities of the same province), provinces and autonomous communities.

• Civil Chambers. He knows about the lawsuits between individuals, about private law, both civil and commercial, and all cases not collected by other jurisdictions.

• Criminal Chambers. Investigate and prosecute, enforce the courts, in matters of crimes (including as crimes, actions and omissions that violate criminal law and endanger the values of man and his society).

• Dispute Chambers. It reviews the actions of public administrations to bring them into line with the law.

• Social Chambers. He is aware of issues relating to labour contracts, conflicts and collective agreements, trade union elections and social security.

• Mercantile rooms. He is aware of matters relating to the concursal, the actions of the company's assets, the collective suspension of contract, the execution of embargo, precautionary measures on the company's assets and actions aimed at demanding the responsibility of the company's administrators, matters of transport, maritime rights, protection of the intellectual and industrial property rights.

• Prison Surveillance Chambers. It reviews prisoners ' sentences and the granting of prison benefits and the third degree, as well as the enforcement of work sentences for the benefit of the community.

Supreme Court

Headquarters of the Supreme Court in Madrid.

The Supreme Court, based in Madrid, is the highest court in all orders, except for the provisions on constitutional guarantees. It is unique, no other Court can have the title of Supreme, and its jurisdiction extends to the entire Spanish territory.

It is made up of the Civil, Criminal, Contentious-Administrative, Social, and Military Chambers and by 2 special review and Government Chambers.

• He knows and decides the resources of cassation, review and other extraordinary in civil, criminal, administrative, social and military matters.

• He knows and decides the civil or criminal liability proceedings against the President and Ministers of the Government of the Nation, the Senators and Deputies of the General Courts, President and Magistrates of the Supreme Court and Vocals of the General Council of the Judiciary, President and Magistrates of the Constitutional Court and other members of high institutions of the State and of the Autonomous Communities.

• He also knows and decides on the illegalization of political parties.

• It knows and decides the processes for the other matters that the Constitution or the Law reserve to its competence.

Its jurisdiction extends to the entire territory of the Nation and all other judicial bodies exercise their powers and powers subordinate to it.

National Court

The National Court is a judicial body that hears and decides cases of special criminal, political or social importance; It is made up of the Appeal, Criminal, Contentious-Administrative and Social Chambers.

• He knows and decides cases for crimes against the Crown Owner, his Consort, his Successor, senior national agencies and form of government.

• He knows and decides, in criminal order and in administrative and social orders, cases relating to other matters of particular importance, such as organized crime, counterfeit currency and crimes against State security.

• He knows and decides the proceedings relating to other matters reserved by the Law to his competence.

Superior Courts of Justice

The autonomous communities have their own executive and legislative bodies, independent from those of the State, which are elected by their citizens to exercise the powers of the community; However, the Judiciary is unique and the autonomous communities do not have their own Justice Administration, but rather participate in the management of its administrative powers, but the judicial bodies are always those of the single Judicial Power.

In this framework, the Constitution and the respective statutes of autonomy establish a Superior Court of Justice in each autonomous community. These courts are the judicial bodies before which the successive procedural instances of the cases initiated in the respective communities are exhausted, without prejudice to the higher jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the knowledge and decision attributed to central jurisdictional bodies in special matters.

The superior courts of justice are made up of the Civil and Criminal, Contentious-Administrative and Social Chambers.

• They know and decide the civil or criminal liability proceedings against the presidents and advisers of the respective autonomous communities, against the members of their Legislative Assemblies and against other senior positions of the autonomic administration and judges and judges of the lower courts.

• They know and decide the cassation resources on the law of the autonomous communities.

• They know and decide the proceedings concerning other matters reserved by the Law to their jurisdiction.

The superior courts of justice take the name of the respective autonomous community and extend their jurisdiction to all of its territory.

Provincial Courts

The Provincial Courts are the highest judicial body in each province and hear cases of a civil and criminal nature.

• In the civil order, they are primarily aware of and decide on appeals against judgements and other decisions of the trial courts.

• In the criminal order, they are primarily aware of and decide on criminal cases not reserved by the Act to another court on the grounds of the matter or the person, as well as on appeals against the judgements and other decisions of the criminal courts.

The provincial courts have their headquarters in the capital of the province, and take the name of the respective province, and extend their jurisdiction to all of it. The province coincides with the administrative division of the same name.

First instance and investigation courts

Trial courts are staffed by professional judges. They are single-person courts that have jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. In each judicial district there will be one or more courts of first instance and investigation with headquarters in the capital of that one and jurisdiction in all its territorial area. They take their designation of the municipality of its headquarters. In some cases, due to the population, the courts of first instance and the investigative courts are differentiated, with the former dealing with civil matters and the latter with criminal matters.

Civil Registry

The courts of first instance are in charge of the Civil Registry of their area and, by delegation of these, of those of peace, in accordance with what is established by law. In towns where there are several first instance judges, one of them will exclusively perform Civil Registry functions.

Other professional courts

With headquarters in the State capital, in the capitals of the autonomous communities or provinces or in any of the large cities of the State, there may be Commercial Courts, Criminal Courts, Violence against Women Courts, Contentious-Administrative, Social, Penitentiary Surveillance and Minors.

These courts know and decide the causes that the Law assigns to them in their respective matters; Depending on the volume of work, there may be more than one court of each class per autonomous community or province, with jurisdiction in all or part of it, or extend its territorial jurisdiction to several autonomous communities or provinces, or parts of them.

In all cases, they take their name from the municipality where their headquarters are located and extend their jurisdiction to the territorial scope indicated above.

Customary and non-professional courts

• The Court of the Jury: it is made up for each process with senior citizens in the full exercise of their civil rights and knows and decides on matters of fact in criminal cases for crimes against persons, crimes committed by public officials in the exercise of their duties, crimes against honour, crimes against liberty and security, fire crimes and others referred to in the Act, issuing a justified verdict of guilt or non-confidence; the law issues are decided by the Juda. A Jury is established in the Court to hear and decide a criminal proceeding for an offence of those who are reserved for their knowledge, whether a Provincial Court, a High Court of Justice, the National Court or the Supreme Court.

• Them Peace courtsThere are in smaller populations where there is no trial and instruction and are served by legos judges, appointed by the Government Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Community on the proposal of the town council, for a period of four years; they know and decide civil cases of lesser amount and criminal cases for minor offences. They also perform civil registration functions. The courts of peace extend their jurisdiction to the municipality concerned.

• The Tribunal de las Aguas de la Vega de Valencia: it is a tribunal composed of legos judges, i.e. non-professional judges, which decides questions relating to the use of water for irrigation for agriculture. Their peculiarities are regulated by a Special Law.

Special courts: military courts

Military jurisdiction of Spain

Plaque de la Jurisdicción militar de España.

Organic Law 4/1987, of July 15, on the Competition and Organization of the Military Jurisdiction established the regime of military jurisdiction in Spain. Pursuant to it, the Supreme Council of Military Justice, the supreme court up to that moment, disappeared to create the Fifth Chamber of the Supreme Court, "De lo militar". From here, an organization based on the following bodies was established:

• Fifth Chamber of the Supreme Court, "Of the Military"
• Central Military Court.
• Territorial Military Tribunals.
• Military courts.

• Displaced Military Courts.

Government bodies

The General Council of the Judiciary is its governing body and exercises its powers throughout the national territory. It is chaired by the President of the Supreme Court of Spain and made up of twenty members, appointed by His Majesty the King at the proposal of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies. Each Chamber proposes four jurists of recognized competence and also selects six Judges or Magistrates proposed in triple list by the members of the Judicial Career, in internal elections. The General Council of the Judiciary has competence in the selection and appointment of Judges, in the proposal to the King for the appointment of the Presidents and Magistrates of all the Courts of the Nation and in administrative, inspection and disciplinary matters.

Subordinate to the General Council of the Judiciary, the Government Chambers of the Supreme Court, the National Court and the Superior Courts of Justice exercise governmental and administrative functions, such as the request and distribution of resources and material means and the establishment of rules for the distribution of matters, substitution and control of the respective offices.

Selection and appointment of Judges and Magistrates

The judicial career is the single body of judges and magistrates throughout the kingdom. Access to it is carried out by different categories and in accordance with the systems of free opposition or restricted shift of professional access.

Justices of the Peace

Justices of the peace are not required to have a law degree; They are appointed by the governing chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the autonomous community at the proposal of the respective municipality council; the government room makes the appointment in case when the city council does not do so within a period of four months or when the candidate proposed by it is not considered suitable by the room itself. They remain in office for four years and may be re-elected indefinitely.

Judge ' s plate

The Judges

In Spain, professional judges are selected through an examination procedure called free opposition in which all Spaniards of legal age with no criminal record who hold a law degree or graduate degree and enjoy the fullness of their civil rights.

The oppositions are carried out according to a schedule and provide a place to all applicants who achieve a position in the ladder higher than the number of positions to be covered, according to the call; that is to say, when an opposition is called for one hundred places for Judges, those who, having passed the exams, have the hundred highest grades will be admitted.

Those approved and admitted are considered trainee officials, with salary and other benefits paid by the State, and must pass a training course at the Judicial School, dependent on the CGPJ, which lasts two years and which It includes a theoretical part and a practical part. Those who pass the course are appointed Judges and enter the Judicial Career for said category.

Once a room or court of Justice is assigned, it is also possible for a judge to act or be required on secondment; that is to say, in temporary substitution of another judge, taking care of the causes that in that period and legal position proceed. There is also the possibility of being required as a support judge; In this case, the judge provides assistance to another judge in the event of possible file collapses, or in cases or proceedings of special relevance or legal-social gravity.

The Magistrates

The magistrates are the judges who serve in higher judicial bodies, such as the Provincial Courts, the Superior Courts of Justice and the National Court. The members of the Supreme Court are also magistrates, but they belong to their special category.

The posts for magistrates are filled according to a quota system, so that for every four posts the following are filled:

• Two for promotion of judges according to the order of the judges on their scale.

• One by contest between judges, through selective evidence in civil and criminal orders and evidence of specialization in administrative, social and commercial orders.

• One by competition between recognized jurists with more than 10 years of professional exercise; one third of these places should be reserved for first or second grade judicial secretaries.

The magistrates are assigned to the different collegiate Courts (not individual ones) in accordance with specific rules that take into account technical criteria and the specialization of each official.

Table of Judges of the Supreme Court

The magistrates of the Supreme Court

Supreme Court magistrates form a category of their own within the judicial career.

Promotion to the category of magistrate of the Supreme Court is carried out according to criteria similar to those taken into account for promotion to the category of magistrate, according to the number of positions that need to be filled, of the following form for every five squares:

• Four for members of the judicial career with at least 10 years of professional exercise, of which two will be contested among those of those specialized in some particular jurisdictional order and the other two by general contest.
• One for prestigious jurists and at least 15 years of professional exercise.

The presidents of Courts and Chambers

The presidents of the respective higher judicial bodies (Supreme Court, National Court and each of its chambers, Superior Courts of Justice and each of its chambers, and Provincial Courts) are appointed, at the proposal of the General Council of Power to Judicial, by the King through Royal Decree. They remain in their posts with a five-year term that can be renewed later.

Electronic administration

Electronic administration in the field of justice is governed by Law 18/2011, of July 5, regulating the use of information and communication technologies in the Administration of Justice.