The ''Court of Public Order'' (Spanish: atribunal de Orden Público) was a court created in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

to deal with most

political crime In criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the ...

s. It was instated as the supreme body in the newly created Public Order Jurisdiction, which also comprised an additional court, the Public Order Examination Court. This jurisdiction was considered an additional branch of the ordinary judiciary (thereby it was not considered to be special or exceptional by legal standards), together with the criminal, civil, administrative and social jurisdictions. It was not part of the military courts system. Nonetheless, the Court and its jurisdiction were always considered to be a

special court An extraordinary court, or special court, is a type of court that is established outside of ordinary judiciary, composed of irregularly selected judges or applies irregular procedure for judgment. Since extraordinary court can be abused to infrin ...

. Similar to the German People's Court in its goals, the court allowed for a rather fair process, leading on many occasions to the acquittal of the convict. Despite being considered a politically-oriented, biased court, the members of the court were all senior judges, many of them not members of the official party, and their decisions were made according to the then existing Laws. There were instances, however, where many arbitrary decisions were taken.Del Águila, Juan José, ''El TOP. La represión de la libertad (1963-1977)'', Barcelona, Planeta, 2001, It was established in December 1963, following

Julián Grimau Julián Grimau García (18 February 1911 – 20 April 1963) was a Spanish politician, member of the Communist Party of Spain, executed during Francisco Franco's Francoist State. Political activities Initially active in the Federal Republican ...

's execution by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

, replacing the '' Tribunal Especial para la Represión de la Masonería y el Comunismo''. It was based in the

Convent of the Salesas Reales The Convent of the Salesas Reales is an 18th-century architectural complex in central Madrid, Spain. Formerly a convent, specifically the convent of the Visitación de Nuestra Señora ( Visitation of Our Lady), it was constructed and occupied by th ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Though its main goal was to repress political crimes in Spain, the Court could not issue death penalties, as these could only be issued by military courts. Therefore, the most serious political and terrorist crimes were dealt with by the military courts, whose death sentences had to be signed by

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

personally.

History

The Public Order Court's purpose was to guarantee the stability of the

public order In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...

as defined by the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

, by punishing within Spanish territory "those crimes whose characteristic was to subvert the basic principles of the state or to wreak havoc in the national conscience". Some of the high-profile cases handled by the ''Tribunal de Orden Público'' during Franco's rule include the

Caso Montenegro Spanish National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Español de Liberación Nacional), better known by its acronym FELN, was a Spanish Republican antifascist opposition group based in Belgium and France active between 1963 and 1970. Its founder was Jul ...

in 1964, following a string of explosions in Madrid, and the

Proceso 1001 Proceso may refer to: * ''Proceso (magazine) ''Proceso'' ( es, Process) is a left-wing Mexican news magazine published in Mexico City. It was founded in 1976 by journalist Julio Scherer García, who additionally served as its president until ...

in 1973, in which the leaders of the

Workers' Commissions The Workers' Commissions ( es, Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de ...

(CCOO) trade union were imprisoned.Armando Recio Garcia, ''La prensa jurídica en el tardofranquismo: el Proceso 1001'',

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

(ed.) The Public Order Tribunal ceased operations by Royal Decree in 1977, two years after Franco's death. The

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...

, one of the bodies established during the

Spanish transition to democracy 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, Cana ...

was created the same day in order to take charge of certain non-political crimes considered nationwide like

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tribunal de Orden Publico Francoist Spain 1977 disestablishments in Spain 1963 establishments in Spain