The General Council of the Judiciary ( es, Consejo General del Poder Judicial, CGPJ) is the

national council of the judiciary In the European continental judicial tradition, the national councils of the judiciary are institutions that ensure the self-management of the judiciary and the effective delivery of justice, which are autonomous or independent of the executive a ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

s, and judges, as it is established by the

Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was ...

, article 122 and developed by the Organic Law 6/1985 of the Judicial Power (LOPJ). The President of the CGJP is also the president of the Supreme Court.

Constitutional nature

The Constitution of 1978 regulates the General Council of the Judiciary in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the section 122.Spanish Constitution Part IV
/ref> This means that, the Constitution only detail the way of election of the eight members of the CGPJ that they will be chosen between the most renowned

jurists A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

. It requires a minimum of 15 years of experience. Four of them must to be chosen by the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

and the other four by the Senate. Both case requires a majority of three fourths of the members of every

Chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations * Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics * Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...

to be elected member of the CGPJ. Otherwise, for the election of the twelve members precedents of the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

, with independence of the professional category that they belong (Magistrate of the Supreme Court, Magistrate or Judge), the Constitution refers to what is established in a future Organic Law. The

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

fulfilled this constitutional mandate with the approval of the Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July, of the

Judicial Power The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

.Organic Law 6/1985, July 1st, of the Judicial Power
Consulted November 19th, 2016.

Functions

The CGPJ is not a jurisdictional body, but an overseeing and organising body of the Spanish Judiciary - it does not form part of the judiciary itself. Among its main functions are: *To elect, among its members, its president and the president of the Supreme Court *To nominate, by a three fifths majority two justices of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

*To oversee and inspect the activities of judges and courts. *To select, train, assign destination, administrative situations and establish and keep the disciplinary rules and procedures of judges and magistrates. *To name judges and, with the approval of the Minister of Justice, the Magistrates of the Supreme Court, Court presidents and magistrates. The CGPJ is also compelled to report on all the laws and legal dispositions of the State and the Autonomous Communities pertaining to judicial questions, as well as being consulted in the naming of the Attorney General of the State.

Composition and manner of election

The Constitution determines in its article 122.3: * It will have 20 members and a President. * The President of the CGPJ it is also the President of the Supreme Court. * 12 members will be Judges or

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

s. An Organic Law will decided the method of election. * 8 members will be lawyers or jurists. 4 of them elected by the Congress and 4 by the Senate. The Organic Law 2/2001 (currently in force), modified the Organic Law 6/1985 in which refers to the election system:

Changes in the Organic Law and new reform proposal

According to the original wording of Article 112 of the Organic Law 6/1985, of July 1st, of the Judiciary

Each of the chambers that form the Cortes Generales chose ten members by a qualified majority of three fifths. Six among active duty judges and four among lawyers of recognized competence. Members of the outgoing Council or those who provided services in their technical bodies could not be elected. The President is appointed by the Plenary of the CGPJ between members of the judicial career or jurists of recognized competence. During his term, members can not be removed, replaced, or terminated and can not be re-elected. Formally, they are appointed by the King of Spain.

According to the modification made by Organic Law 2/2001 of June 21st

Organic Law 2/2001, of June 21, modified article 122 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary reforming the election method between members coming from the

. The professional associations of the judiciary or groups of judges who make up at least 2% of the total on active duty may present to the chambers a total of thirty-six candidates, of which the

shall elect six and the other six will be chosen by the Senate from among the remaining thirty.

Reform proposal of 2012

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez (born 11 December 1958) is a Spanish politician and former Minister of Justice. He was mayor of Madrid between 2003 and 2011. A stalwart of the conservative People's Party (PP), he has previously been a leadin ...

, Ministry of Justice (Spain), minister of Justice, announced in 2012 his intention to change the method of election of the 12 members of the CGPJ, returning to the old system of 1985. However, on December 21, 2012 the minister attended to the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Ministers with a preliminary project in which it was established that the election of the twenty members of the governing body of the judges was carried out directly by the Cortes Generales, Parliament, without previous elections in the judicial career. Ruiz-Gallardón considered that the reform, consensual with the PSOE, would contribute to depoliticization justice. The Council of Ministers rejected this project.

Members of the CGPJ

The members of the General Council of the Judiciary are the President, the Vice-president and the Members.

Presidents

The President of the CGPJ is also the President of the Supreme Court. They are: * Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles y Rodríguez (1980–1985) * Antonio Hernández Gil (1985–1990) * Pascual Sala, Pascual Sala Sánchez (1990–1996) * Javier Delgado Barrio, Francisco Javier Delgado Barrio (1996–2001) * Francisco José Hernando, Francisco José Hernando Santiago (2001–2008) * Carlos Dívar, Carlos Dívar Blanco (2008–2012) * Gonzalo Moliner Tamborero (2012–2013) * Carlos Lesmes, Carlos Lesmes Serrano (2013–2022)

Vicepresidents

* Rafael Gimeno Gamarra, replaced by Manuel García Miguel (1980–1985)Miembros anteriores del CGPJ
Web Poder Judicial España * Manuel Peris Gómez (1985–1990) * Luis López Guerra (1996–2001) * Fernando Salinas Molina (2001–2008) * Fernando de Rosa Torner (2008–2013)Current members of the GCJ
Web Poder Judicial España * Ángel Juanes (2013–Present)

Members

These are the current Members of the CGPJ since November 29, 2013. They were elected by the

and the Senate. As of 2018, they need to be renewed.Royal Decree 931/2013, of November 29, appointing Vowels of the General Council of the Judiciary at the proposal of the Senate.
/ref> *Roser Bach i Fabregó *María del Mar Cabrejas Guijarro *María Ángeles Carmona Vergara *María Victoria Cinto Lapuente *Álvaro Cuesta Martínez *Nuria Díaz Abad *Juan Manuel Fernández Martínez *Rafael Fernández Valverde *Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez *Vicente Guilarte Gutiérrez *Carmen Llombart Pérez *Clara Martínez de Careaga *Juan Martínez Moya *Francisco Gerardo Martínez Tristán *Rafael Mozo Muelas *Enrique Lucas Murillo de la Cueva *Wenceslao Francisco Olea Godoy *Maria Mercè Pigem i Palmés *María Concepción Sáez Rodríguez *María Pilar Sepúlveda García de la Torre

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Council Of The Judicial Power Of Spain Government of Spain Law of Spain Judiciary of Spain National councils of the judiciary