The superior courts of justice ( es, Tribunales Superiores de Justicia), or high courts of justice, are

courts 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 accordance ...

within the judicial system of Spain, whose territorial scope covers an

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 ...

, as laid down in the Organic Law of Judicial Power (''Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial''). 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 e ...

defined the territorial organization of the Spanish State as a hierarchy of

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

provinces 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 ...

and autonomous communities. The current

decentralised Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

administrative structure is known as a "

regional state A regional state, or a regionalised unitary state, is a term used to denote a type of state that is formally unitary but where a high degree of political power has been highly decentralised to regional governments. This contrasts with a state org ...

" or, in Spain, "State of the Autonomous Communities" (''Estado de las autonomías'').

Judicial powers of the autonomous communities

The autonomous communities possess their own

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

and

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

powers, conferred on them under their

Statute of Autonomy Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía, ca, Estatut d'Autonomia, gl, Estatuto de Autonomía, ast, Estatutu d'Autonomía, eu, Autonomia Estatutua) is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, u ...

or transferred from the state, in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978. However, an important qualitative difference between the state of the autonomous communities and a

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

is that the autonomous communities do not have a judicial body of their own that would judge cases according to their own law; instead, the communities exercise the unified judicial power of the Spanish state. Despite this, legislation concerning the autonomous communities envisaged those communities having a judicial role, for instance in the powers of officials in the administration of the judicial system and of material and economic resources. Moreover, the legislative assembly of each community takes part in the appointment of one-third of the members of the civil and penal chamber of the respective superior court of justice: the assembly draws up a shortlist and presents it to 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 ...

, which selects one of the candidates for the position in question. The headquarters of each superior court of justice is stated in the respective statute of autonomy.

Composition

The Superior courts of justice are divided into three Chambers: Civil and Penal, Administrative Disputes, and Social. There is a president of the superior court, a president for each chamber, and a president for each of the sections into which a chamber may be divided. The number of judges varies according to the volume of work. Judges are selected by competition, taking account of their current judicial position, with places reserved for candidates with special expertise in each branch of the judiciary. One-third of positions in the Civil and Penal Chamber are allocated to lawyers of acknowledged distinction selected by the General Council of the Judiciary from a shortlist drawn up by the legislative assembly of the respective autonomous community.

Competencies

Civil and Penal Chamber

* In its

Civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

aspect, the Civil and Penal Chamber acts as a court of

appeal 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 ...

and a means of special review of decisions of the civil power vested in the autonomous community, based on claimed infringement of the civil,

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or special law in force within the Community, when the relevant statute of autonomy provides for such review. It also rules on civil liability claims: (a) arising from acts committed by members of the governing council of the community or of its legislative assembly in the exercise of their respective duties, unless the case, according to the statutes of autonomy, is proper to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

; (b) arising from acts committed by all or the greater part of the magistrates of a

provincial court The provincial and territorial courts in Canada are local trial "inferior" or "lower" courts of limited jurisdiction established in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. These courts typically hear criminal, civil (or “small claims� ...

or of any of its sections. Finally, it rules on issues of competency between different jurisdictional organs of the civil power in the Autonomous Community that do not have another organ overseeing both. * In its

penal Penal is a town in south Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. It lies south of San Fernando, Princes Town, and Debe, and north of Moruga, Morne Diablo and Siparia. It was originally a rice- and cocoa-producing area but is now a rapidly expanding and ...

aspect, the Civil and Penal Chamber hears criminal cases reserved to the superior court in accordance with the statute of autonomy. It hears and rules on criminal cases against judges, magistrates and tax officials arising from crimes or errors committed in the exercise of their duties, unless the case is proper to the Supreme Court. It hears appeals against judgments of the provincial courts, and any other appeals for which the law provides. Finally, it rules on issues of competency between different jurisdictional organs of the ''penal'' power in the autonomous community that do not have another organ overseeing both.

Administrative Disputes Chamber

The Administrative Disputes Chamber deals with matters relating to acts of local government bodies or the administrative body of the autonomous community, when not proper to provincial administrative dispute courts within the community. It hears appeals against the judgments or acts of those provincial courts, may review their final judgments, and may rule on issues of competency between two or more of them. As provided by relevant regulatory law, it may carry out reviews in order to harmonise doctrine, or in the interests of the law in the field of administrative disputes.

Social Chamber

The Social Chamber deals with disputes affecting the interests of workers and business people, according to the law and where the scope of the issue is greater than that of a lower court but not beyond the autonomous community. It hears appeals against decisions of lower social courts and decisions related to labour matters of commercial courts (''Juzgados de la Mercantil'') within the community. It settles labour-related insolvency cases, and may rule on issues of competency between two or more lower social courts.

External links

Portal of the Judicial Power in Spain

Web of the Constitutional Court
{{Authority control Judiciary of Spain