Judicial & Constitutional Courts

Judicial Organization

• Jurisdiction is an activity of the state to preserve its legal system and protect individual rights.
• Judicial systems are groups of courts exercising judicial power in a country.
• Judicial organization is the set of rules that fix the name, competence, composition, and place of courts in the judicial system’s hierarchy.

Constitutional Jurisdiction

• Constitutional jurisdiction is how the conformity of laws with the constitution is defined.
• All laws and legal rules must comply with the Constitution, which is the top of legal norms hierarchy.
• Constitutional jurisdiction emerged from laws needing to comply with the constitution.

Mechanism and Powers of Constitutional Courts

• Constitutional Courts ensure laws comply with the Constitution.
• Forms of control include linguistics, spelling, and punctuation verification.
• Procedure reviews the enactment process, including whether quorum rules for meetings and decisions were followed.
• Basis reviews the content, purpose, and essence of the subject matter.

Right to File a Lawsuit

• The President has the right to file a lawsuit.
• The ruling party and main opposition parliamentary group can file a lawsuit.
• A certain number of deputies have the right to file a lawsuit.
• Individuals can file lawsuits.

Ordinary Jurisdiction

• Ordinary jurisdiction settles civil and criminal disputes, and it’s the most common judiciary type based on geography and the number of parties involved.
• Ordinary jurisdiction is divided into civil and criminal jurisdictions.

Civil Jurisdiction

• Civil jurisdiction uses different courts/bodies to settle civil disputes separately from criminal or administrative cases.
• The competencies of civil jurisdiction are divided into two parts.

General & Special Civil Jurisdiction

• General civil jurisdiction: the civil judiciary can adjudicate any civil lawsuit not explicitly assigned to another jurisdiction.
• Special civil jurisdiction has exclusive competence for matters related to parentage, including legitimate, natural, or adoptive.
• Special jurisdiction covers copyright, declaration of absence, divorce, inheritance, and matrimonial regimes.
• Actions to claim real estate property fall under special civil jurisdiction.
• Addressing requests to cancel general assembly deliberations of co-ownerships requires special jurisdiction.
• Special jurisdiction includes addressing Commercial leases.

Criminal Courts

• Criminal courts are where those accused of violating criminal law have their criminal responsibility determined by juries or judges.
• Courts seek justice and discover the truth.
• Primary actors are prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges.

Types of Crime

• Crimes against individuals include torture, theft, and fraud.
• Crimes against society include money laundering, forgery of official documents, and smuggling.
• Crimes against the nation and the state include bribery, treason, and violation of the Constitution.
• International crimes include genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Administrative Jurisdiction

• Administrative jurisdiction grants administrative courts authority to adjudicate administrative law.
• These courts decide public law disputes unrelated to constitutional law, unless disputes are referred by law to other courts.

Organization of the Administrative Judiciary

• Administrative courts serve as first instance courts.
• Tax courts serve as first instance courts.
• Regional administrative courts serve as Courts of Appeal.
• The Council of State handles appeals by cassation.

Administrative Court Decisions

• Options at the end of a session may include revoking the contested decision.
• Options at the end of a session may include adjusting the contested decision in certain cases.
• The courts may order administration to compensate the applicant.
• The courts are also able to deny the request.

Account Jurisdiction

• Account jurisdiction involves inspecting the central government budget, social security institutions, and public administrations regarding revenues, expenditures, and property.

Organization of the Court of Audit

• The court of accounts is composed of financial judges divided into chambers along with designated personnel.
• The personnel is designated for functions of assisting in control and administrative organization.
• The general secretariat, composed of magistrates, ensures the direction of the administration of the Court.
• The General Prosecutor’s Office is at the Court and is headed by the General Prosecutor.

Supreme Court Roles

• Supreme courts in some countries are the highest court and carry National Jurisdiction.
• Supreme Court combines roles of constitutional court, ensuring law conformity; administrative court, ensuring government regulatory acts through judicial review.
• Further roles include the court of last instance for ordinary judicial and administrative matters.
• It may also act as the first and last instance for certain acts, dealing especially with excess of power.