The Spanish legal system
The Spanish legal system is a civil law system based on the Roman-Germanic tradition.
The law understood in the sense of any written law is its primary source, including, of course, international treaties, which become internal law once they have been signed, ratified and published in the Official State Journal, and EU Law.
The Spanish system is hierarchical so that laws of a lower jurisdiction in conflict with laws of a higher jurisdiction are invalid. The Constitution of 1978 occupies the highest position in this hierarchy. It establishes the basic principles and rules of Spain’s political and legal framework.
As to its political system Spain is organised as a parliamentary monarchy with the King as the Head of State, although he has no decision-making powers since the sovereignty belongs to the Spanish people, represented by the Parliament consisting of two chambers, the Congress and the Senate, the latter intended to be the chamber of territorial representation.
The territory of Spain, which includes the Balearic and the Canary Islands as well as the North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla, is, administratively speaking, divided in 17 Autonomous Communities and 2 Autonomous Cities (Ceuta and Melilla), each of them with its own governing and parliamentary bodies and legislative power within the scope of its powers. Their legal provisions only apply within their respective community. In addition to the Spanish (Castilian) language, which is spoken throughout its entire territory, in Spain coexist three other languages, which are official in their respective autonomous communities, namely Catalan, Galician and Basque. At the same time the country is divided in 52 provinces and over 8,000 municipalities.
This means that Spain has three different levels of government: municipalities, autonomous communities, and the central government. The Constitution establishes the limits and powers of each one, although not all Communities have developed the same autonomous level of self-government. The distribution of powers, especially between the Central State and the Autonomous Communities or among Autonomous Communities themselves, often gives rise to political disputes, which on occasion have to be settled by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court is not considered part of the court system but an independent institution. Besides the above-mentioned disputes and disputes between different organs of the State, the Constitutional Court deals with appeals for protection of fundamental rights and with the constitutionality of laws, being the supreme interpreter of the Constitution.
The Administration of Justice is one of the domains reserved to the Central State and although the actual management of resources of the system has in some cases been transferred to the Autonomous Communities, the latter have no judicial power, nor judicial institutions. For jurisdictional purposes the above-mentioned administrative division is completed with judicial districts (431 on January 1st, 2006), where the Courts of First Instance and Investigation of Criminal Cases sit. There exist specialised courts for specific matters (criminal, family, commercial, administrative, labour, minors, penitentiary, etc.).
The Spanish courts are also organized hierarchically through a system of appeals (generally before the Provincial Courts or the High Court of Justice of each Autonomous Community) up to the Supreme Court in Madrid, which is the highest judicial body in all jurisdictions, basically civil (including family and commercial matters), criminal, administrative and labour. Case law issued by the Supreme Court is a complementary source of interpretation and application of the law. The National High Court in Madrid is a special court that combines various levels of jurisdiction and sees important and serious cases in different matters, having a special jurisdiction over certain specific crimes (e.g. terrorism, organised crime).
As to Arbitration Practice, the Spanish arbitration law provides that disputes arising between parties may only be resolved by arbitration, when there is a written agreement that clearly establishes the will of the parties to submit their disputes to arbitration. Foreign arbitration resolutions are enforceable in Spain in accordance with the international treaties to which Spain is a party.
Yvonne Lasance
yvonne.lasance@lasance.eu
Miembro de Eurojuris España
Tags: arbitration practice Spain, civil law Spain, Eurojuris España, legal system Spain, supreme court madrid, Yvonne Lasance
