He jury court is a body in charge of judging certain causes of crime before articles 26 and 83. These will depend directly on the Organic Law of the Judiciary, mainly on article 1 of the Organic Law 5/1995.
He jury court It has jurisdictional functions of citizens that do not require knowledge or qualifications in Law. It is a channel for citizen participation in the administration of Justice.
Citizens have other instruments of participation, through popular action. Anyone is allowed Spanish citizen, natural or legal to become a prosecuting party in any crime.
Parts of conformation of the Jury Court
Participation in the administration of justice through jury court means that the criminal process will be heard in court. The result will depend on a court of citizens, lay judges or non-jurists.
Are you looking for a lawyer specialized in Criminal Law?
we help you find a criminal lawyer.
We have a wide network of collaborating lawyers in all Spain.
They are entrusted in the criminal sphere, the role traditionally assigned to magistrates professionals in the courts. This particularity affects many aspects of its legal regulation, from its composition to its competence.
Mainly understanding its demarcation or the content of its function, including aspects related to its procedure. What is not questioned is their status as criminal collegiate body.
It is made up of a Magistrate, who presides over it, plus a college of nine sworn citizens chosen at random.
The model that applies in Spain for the Jury Court
The model defined in the Spanish law of 1995 belongs to the category of pure jury, as opposed to mixed jury. Pure juries are those composed exclusively of lay judges,
There is generally talk of citizens elected ad casum to contribute to the judgment on the perception of society. Hence the manifestation of the democratic principle within justice.
The mixed system is made up of judicial judges and lay judges in various proportions, depending on which system we are in. The pure jury is typical of the nations of the Anglo-American legal tradition.
The arguments were present in the debate prior to the establishment of the jury court in Spain. After the restoration of democracy and have continued ever since.
For the mixed, the main problem is that the professional judge helps the citizens to obtain the verdict. It is guaranteed that the final decision is based on legal criteria and not on other conditions unrelated to the law.
It has been alleged that the lawyer, based on his legal knowledge, can also condition the final decision. Reducing the work of citizens to that of mere spectators.
This breaking the equality that must have to preside over the relationship between the members of all the collegiate judicial authorities.
Faced with a pure jury, the legal ignorance of the citizens responsible for the decision does not guarantee the law enforcement. The jury's lack of legal training in no way supports the duty to justify their decisions.
The theoretical bases for the establishment of the jury court in a legal system they are different. The first of these lies essentially in the desire to apply the democratic principle in the administration of justice.
It is understood that since the judiciary is an emanation of the people. Citizen participation in the Justice administration it is the socialization of the state.
Appointment structure in the Jury Court
as in all jury systems pure, the composition is made ad casum, that is, for the cause in question. The main purpose of this is not to impose a particularly heavy burden on people who are not professional judges.
Rather, it seeks to distribute the burden of supporting the jury among as many citizens as possible. As for the election of the president of the magistrate, the selection does not present major difficulties.
It is done based on sharing rules established among the magistrates that make up the audience of the competent court.
For the selection of the nine citizens of the jury, as well as the two alternates, Organic Law 5/1995 applies. This contains a series of rules for your final decision on the day of the Constitution of the Court.
It is governed by Royal Decree 1398/1995, modified by Royal Decree 1271/2012 of the Ministry of the Presidency of August 31. The selection process is divided into three successive levels.
In the first of these lists, they are drawn up from those of the electoral census of the provinces for each of the Spanish provinces. Which are incorporated by several candidates to form part of the jury-court of the causes held in the next two years.
Once the lottery has been carried out and the biennial lists of jury candidates, the next step is to create a second list. This depends on the first once the motivation of the jury court has already started.
The candidates for these criminal proceedings they are invited by the secretary of the constitutive meeting of the jury.
The third stage takes place before the hearing opens. The final selection of the nine main jurors plus the two substitutes for the vacant position is carried out.
The subjects that make up the Jury Court
Once elected, they will be sworn in before the formation of the president of the magistrate and the jury court. The act of oath or promise must have no greater value compared to the pure protocol.
This procedure is regulated in articles 13 to 23 and 38 to 41 of the Organic Law of the Jury Court. The candidates included in the list have the right to present the pertinent arguments before the competent authority to obtain their exclusion.
In the case of the list of candidates, the parties to the process can challenge it.
Before any of the incompatibilities or legal prohibitions involving jurors.
In the jury statute, each party can also use so-called unreasonable challenges. They are challenges, which consist of the right of the accusers and defendants to exclude a series of jury challenges.
The requirements required by law to be part of the jury are to be of legal age, to be able to fully exercise the rights. Being able to read and write, being part of the municipalities of the province where the crime was committed.
Not have physical, mental or sensory impediments to act as a jury. It is necessary that there are no prohibitions, impediments, incompatibilities or excuses to be part of the jury. This in accordance with articles 9 to 12 of the Organic Law 5/1995.
