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The High Court of Justice of Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla ( es, Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucía, Ceuta y Melilla, ''TSJA''), is the highest
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 ...
of
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
, and for the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
autonomous cities of
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
and
Melilla.
[Constitución del TSJA]
Portal Adriano, the web portal for the courts of Andalusia. Accessed online 2009-12-30. Its seat is the former Royal Chancery of Granada.
The TSJA has full power over all the jurisdictional orders: civil and penal law, social law, administrative disputes, and any other orders that may be created in the future.
Portal Adriano, the web portal for the courts of Andalusia. Accessed online 2009-12-30.
The TSJA is the final jurisdictional court of all trials initiated in the
autonomous community
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
of Andalusia and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and is the final appeal court for all legal processes that occur in those areas, whatever law is invoked as applicable, in accord with the Organic Law of Judicial Power and without prejudice to the powers reserved to the
Supreme Court.
History of the High Court
The TSJA was created as provided for in Article 7 of the original (1981) Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia. In the first ordinary session of the
Parliament of Andalusia
The Parliament of Andalusia ( es, Parlamento de Andalucía) is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. ...
,
Granada was chosen as the seat of the TSJA, making that city the judicial capital of Andalusia;
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
is the political capital.
The TSJA was constituted in 1989. This superseded the old ''
Audiencias Territoriales'' and gave rise to a new judicial model adapted to the requirements of 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 ...
and the
Statutes of Autonomy of the various autonomous communities. The new territorial model and the new model of judicial power made it necessary to replace the two old courts—seated in Granada and Seville, respectively—with a single court for the whole of Andalusia, Ceuta, and Melilla, as well as the creation of the
Divisions (''Salas'') of Civil and Penal Law and the
Division of Social Law, to which new powers were attributed. The new court was not considered as having continuity from the previous ''Audiencia Territorial''; it was an entirely new creation. It does not consider the decisions of that court as
precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
s.
Owing in part to the judicial history of Seville, two displaced divisions (''Salas desplazadas'') were created in that city: a
Division of Administrative Disputes
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...
(''Contencioso-Administrativo'') and a
Division of Social Law. Because of the importance of the city of
Málaga and the large volume of cases generated in the surrounding
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Málaga, despite the city having no prior history as the seat of a judicial institution, two ''salas'' were created as in Seville. Both of these also have equivalents in Granada.
In 1997 the
Andalusian Autonomous Government
The Regional Government of Andalusia ( es, Junta de Andalucía) is the government of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Regional Government and the Government Council. The 2011 budget was 31. ...
transferred material and human resources to the TSJA, permitting the latter to gain more institutional importance within Andalusia. This occurred in part because of a series of agreements increasing cooperation between the Andalusian Autonomous Government and the
General Council of the Judiciary
The General Council of the Judiciary ( es, Consejo General del Poder Judicial, CGPJ) is the national council of the judiciary of Spain. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it i ...
.
On 17 June 1999 it was celebrated the tenth anniversary of the High Court of Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla, with the presence and involvement of the
president of the Supreme Court and of the General Council of the Judiciary, the
president of the Andalusian Regional Government, the president of the
Parliament of Andalusia
The Parliament of Andalusia ( es, Parlamento de Andalucía) is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. ...
and the president of the court itself.
History of the seat of the TSJA in Granada
The seat of the high court is the former Royal Chancery of Granada. From 1505 to 1834, the Royal Chancery had jurisdiction over the
Kingdom of Granada
)
, common_languages = Official language:Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino
, capital = Granada
, religion = Majority religion:Sunni IslamMinority religions:Roman ...
, over the three kingdoms that then made up Andalusia (
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
,
Córdoba, and
Jaén, as well as the
Kingdom of Murcia
After roughly two decades as a protectorate of the Crown of Castile, the territory of the Taifa of Murcia became the Kingdom of Murcia ( es, Reino de Murcia, links=no, a territorial jurisdiction of the Crown of Castile) in the wake of its conque ...
,
La Mancha
La Mancha () is a natural and historical region located in the Spanish provinces of Albacete, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Toledo. La Mancha is an arid but fertile plateau (610 m or 2000 ft) that stretches from the mountains of Toledo to th ...
, certain provinces of
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
, and the
Canary Islands. The oldest parts of the present building were built around 1531. The present façade and staircase date from slightly later, during the reign of King
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
; the façade was completed in 1587. The building contains numerous sculptures and paintings from roughly that era, as well is ironwork, tapestries, and so forth. In 1762 a stone
balustrade was added to the
cornice, with carved pyramids and a 16th-century clock in the center. That clock used to be in an interior staircase; its old place was filled in 1806 by a marble medallion with the figure of King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
.
[La Real Chancillería. Sede del TSJA]
Portal Adriano, the web portal for the courts of Andalusia. Accessed online 2009-12-30.
In 1834, the status of the Chancery was reduced to that of an ''Audiencia'', with jurisdiction over the provinces of
Granada,
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
,
Jaén and
Málaga.
Powers
As remarked above, the TSJA is the highest court in Andalusia, Ceuta, and Melilla, subject only to the powers reserved for the Supreme Court of Spain. More specifically, the TSJA fulfills several roles, corresponding to its various divisions (''salas'').
The
Divisions of Civil and Penal law
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...
(''Sala de lo Civil'' and ''Sala de lo Penal'') has jurisdiction over charges under civil or criminal law against civil officials and magistrates related to the execution of their offices, except insofar as the Statute of Autonomy assigns certain jurisdiction to the Supreme Court. It also is the court with jurisdiction in disputes between courts in the autonomous community that do not have any other common superior court. The
Division of Administrative Disputes
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...
(''Sala de lo Contencioso Administrativo'') has broad
appellate
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
powers and power to review administrative actions by government entities. The
Division of Social law (''Sala de lo Social'') deals specifically with
labor law
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
.
Presidency of the TSJA
Notes
External links
''Portal Adriano'' the web portal for the courts of Andalusia
{{DEFAULTSORT:High Court Of Andalusia
Judiciary of Spain
Institutions of Andalusia
Ceuta
Melilla