Judicial Processes: Types, Characteristics, and Legal Frameworks
T-20 – Regular Processes
Regular processes can refer parties to settle their dispute, except for matters requiring a special procedure. They are characterized by the fullness of their cognition, considering the totality of the legal relationship. Judgments in regular processes “enjoy all the material effects of res judicata,” particularly the exclusion of re-litigation. Regular processes offer the largest increase in the guarantees of the parties, including argument, trial, and appeal.
Special Processes
The primary characteristic of special processes lies in the specificity of their object. Unlike ordinary processes, special procedures can only discuss the juridical and material for which protection was created.
Process Summaries
Process summaries are characterized by a limited cognition to a single aspect of the material. Parties have limited means of attack and defense, and evidence may be restricted. Judgments in summary proceedings do not produce the full material effects of res judicata, or are limited to the legal relationship discussed.
Types of Material Process
The process is a court instrument for applying objective law to individual cases. Processes can be classified into those implementing public law and those individualizing private law rules.
A) The Criminal Procedure
Criminal procedure involves a punitive claim, seeking a sentence based on an alleged offense. Claims always involve criminal conviction based on the “Offense” and the identity of its author. The defense opposes the criminal claim, aiming to enforce the fundamental right to freedom and the presumption of innocence. Types of criminal processes include:
- Regular summary: For crimes with sentences exceeding nine years, with judicial instruction and trial in the District Court.
- Summary criminal proceedings: Allocated to pretrial examining magistrates and trial phase in Criminal Courts (up to five years) or Provincial Courts (five to nine years).
- Trials of failures: Trial courts and proceedings before the Tribunal of the Jury for relevant crimes and speedy trials for misdemeanors (up to 5 years imprisonment) that are blatant.
B) Administrative Procedure
The Law of Administrative Jurisdiction (1956) established a court system to control and ensure the Public Administration’s submission to the rule of law.
C) The Constitutional Process
Constitutional processes, regulated by the Constitution and the OLCC, are brought before the Constitutional Court (TC) and are informed by the principles of device, writing, and single instance. They are divided into:
a) Protection of Fundamental Rights
The TC protects fundamental rights through the use of protection, asserting violated constitutional rights.
b) Control of Constitutional Legality
The TC ensures the submission of all government branches to the Constitution through:
- Conflicts of competence: Raised by the State, Autonomous Communities, and local governments to defend their autonomy against actions undermining the distribution of powers.
- Abstract control of constitutionality: Exercised through the “constitutional remedy” by 50 Deputies, 50 Senators, the Ombudsman, the Public Prosecutor, the President of the Government, and Legislative/Executive bodies of the CCAA, against laws violating the Constitution.
- Concrete control of constitutionality: Through the “question of unconstitutionality” raised by a judge or court during a process regarding the constitutionality of a law applicable to a particular case.
D) The Labor Process
The labor process, governed by the Consolidated RDL 2/95 of April 7, includes a regular process and various special processes. It proceeds through Social Courts (first instance), Boards of Social of the TSJ (second instance), and the Social Chamber of the TS (Cassation). The ordinary process is informed by device, official investigation, orality, immediacy, speed, two-tier economy, and aims for material truth. The main feature is the oral procedure.
E) The Civil Process
The civil process is governed by the Civil Procedure Act 1/2000 of January 7, along with substantive law and civil special provisions. Civil proceedings occur before Judges of First Instance and Magistrates, with appeals to Provincial Courts and the Civil Division of the TS.