The Judicial Process

The judicial process in Spain can be divided in Civil Judicial Processes and Penal Judicial Processes.

a)     The Civil Judicial Processes

They are divided in types depending on two criteria: the matter to be discussed and the amount of the claim. It is possible to find 4 types of procedures:

• Ordinary judgement: this procedure is initiated through a complaint in which the intervenient parts need to be clarified, and where a lawyer is compulsory. The judge will declare the admission of the demand and will try that they reach an agreement. If they do not, each part will present their allegations and the judge will give a sentence.
• Verbal judgement: in this type, it is not compulsory to have a lawyer as long as the amount of the reclaim is lower than 2,000€. Both parts need to come (if the defendant does not show it will be considered in “rebellion” and if the claimant does not it will be considered he surrenders and will have to pay the costs of the trial).
• Monitory judgment: judgement for situations in which there is a debt that has been recorded in a document. The document can be of any type as long as the signature of the debtor appears.
• Changing judgment: procedure to pay a bill of exchange, a check or a promissory note that meets all legal requirements. (iAbogado)

b)     The Penal Judicial Processes

When it comes to Penal matters, it is necessary to determine the type of procedure applicable to each concrete case, depending on the severity of the facts:

• Facts that are a “fault” are judged through the “judgment of faults”.
• Facts that constitute a felony need to be distinguished on whether they can be sanctioned with more or less than 9 years. The first case goes to the “abbreviated procedure” (the most common in Spain), and in the second case, “ordinary procedure”.

There is also a procedure that due to the matter are done through a Jury Tribunal through the procedure “habeas corpus”. (Universidad de Valencia)