The High Court of Justice of Catalonia ( ca, Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya, TSJC) is the highest body and last judicial instance of the Spanish

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 ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. Unlike the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...

(legislative branch) or the

Executive Council of Catalonia The Executive Council of Catalonia ( ca, Consell Executiu) or the Executive Government of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the Executive (government), executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It is responsible for the political action, regul ...

(executive branch), the TSJC is not a part of the

Generalitat of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; oc, label=Aranese, Generalitat de Catalonha; es, Generalidad de Cataluña), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government. It is formed b ...

, the autonomous system of self-government of the community, although the Catalan government has some powers over it, especially in material resources. The TSJC regulates the functions of the judges and looks over the different provincial courts. The TSJC is the final

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

in Catalan territory, notwithstanding the right of a citizen to appeal to the

Spanish Supreme Court The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regula ...

and/or the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

. The TSJC was created on 23 May 1989 with the Organic Law of Judicial Authority ( es, Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial), as part of the process of

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

to Catalonia from the

Spanish government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

, started in 1979. Its headquarters are located at the Palau de Justícia,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Composition

Organization

The High Court of Justice of consists of three courts, although a fourth, for Minors, has been proposed. * Civil and Penal (''Sala Civil i Penal''): Five magistrates, including the President of the Tribunal. * Contentious-Administrative (''Sala Contenciosa-Administrativa''): Fourteen magistrates, distributed in four sections. * Social (''Sala Social''): Sixteen magistrates, distributed in four sections.

President

Appointment process

Candidates need to obtain a three fifths (13)

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

of the 21 votes of the General Council of Judicial Authority ( es, Consejo General del Poder Judicial).

Presidents

* José Antonio Somalo Giménez (1989-1994) * Guillem Vidal Andreu (1994-2004) * Maria Eugènia Alegret i Burgués (2004-2010) * Miguel Ángel Gimeno Jubero (2010 - January 2016) * Jesús María Barrientos Pacho (January 2016 – present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:High Court of Catalonia Catalonia