I. Constitutional justice
The origins of the Constitutional Court in Spain
The model of concentrated constitutional justice emerged during the inter-war period in Europe when the first constitutional courts were established, and more particularly with the influence of the constitutions of Austria and Czechoslovakia as of 1920. Although several projects were envisaged in Spain to establish d´un a constitutional review of the laws (1873 and 1929), the Constitutional Court of Guarantees - which was created at the beginning of European constitutional justice - represents the predecessor of the current Constitutional Court. Instituted by the Constitution of 9 December 1931 (Article 122) and governed by the Organic Law of 14 June 1933, this Constitutional Court of Guarantees was largely based on the Austrian model. It is competent, inter alia, to review the constitutionality of laws, to protect individual guarantees, to rule on conflicts of jurisdiction between the Republic and the Autonomous Communities and to review the criminal responsibility of the Head of State, the President of the Council and Ministers, the President and Judges of the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor of the Republic. The need to control the territorial distribution of powers of the state and the need to guarantee the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution was clearly recognised, although this concept was still lacking in maturity and consolidated models. This has therefore almost logically led to the creation of a Court with a strong political dimension and very disparate functions. Finally, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and its rapid evolution have significantly contributed to the sudden disappearance of this Court.
II. The Spanish Constitutional Court
Establishment and first works
The Spanish Constitution of 27 December 1978, whose Title IX is devoted to the Constitutional Court, was completed by an Organic Law (LOTC 2/1979) dated 3 October.
Its first Magistrates were appointed by Royal Decrees on 14 February 1980 (published on 22 February). On 25 February, only 10 of them met in collegial form ("Colegio de Magistrados") since the last two members of the Tribunal to be proposed by the General Council for the Judiciary had to wait until the official constitution of this institution was finalised. Their deliberations were presided over by Mr. Manuel García-Pelayo y Alonso, Dean of Magistrates, accompanied by Mr. Rafael Gómez-Ferrer to serve as Secretary of the Proceedings as the youngest of the Magistrates. From that time until the final establishment of the Court on July 12 (in accordance with the First Additional Provision of the LOTC), the first appointed Magistrates were fully aware of the task ahead. They then indicated through the minutes of their first session that it was their duty [...] and responsibility to prepare the work that they considered most appropriate in order to ensure the effective functioning of the Court on the day it was constituted.
On 3 July 1980, at the end of the parliamentary session of Parliament - and in accordance with Article 9 of the LOTC - the Magistrates of the Constitutional Court elected Mr Manuel García Pelayo as President and Mr Jerónimo Arozamena Sierra as Vice-President of the institution. These appointments were proposed to His Majesty the King on 3 July of the same year. The Constitutional Court was finally founded on 12 July 1980 and opened its Registry ("Registro General") on 15 July in order to begin exercising the powers conferred on it by the Constitution and its Organic Law (Resolution of 14 July 1980). In the words of its President Emeritus Mr Francisco Tomás y Valiente, " in the delicate balance between respect for its independence and the needs of the court, the Government of the Nation has been attentive to the suggestions of the Magistrates and accepted their initiatives in order to make a decisive contribution to the effective establishment of the Court, both in human and material resources, as all are necessary and vital for its functioning". Initially, the Court organised its working meetings at the Centre for Constitutional Studies before it moved to its provisional headquarters at Paseo de la Habana. Finally, in 1981, it will freeze the core of its activities in its current headquarters located in Street Domenico Scarlatti. During several less intense activities, the Court will have dealt with issues of a very diverse nature but all related to the implementation of the institution, ranging from the decision of the slogan that will appear on the Magistrates' Medal (finally Freedom. Justice. Concord) to much more practical and related decisions in the day-to-day affairs.
His first court decision ("Auto") was rendered on August 11, 1980 in the context of an appeal d´ amparo. Then, its first judgment ("Sentencia") was issued on 26 January 1981. Since then and until today, the Constitutional Court has created a vast body of case law, consisting of more than 8,000 judgments and nearly 17,000 decisions.
International activities
The Spanish Constitutional Court, which has benefited from many experiences and has been enriched by the organisational model of other constitutional courts - including the courts of Germany, Austria, Italy and Mexico - can also testify to the interest and solid international cooperation in a multitude of forms through its participation in bilateral exchanges and multilateral meetings.
In October 1981, the Constitutional Court was invited to participate in the Fifth Conference of European Constitutional Courts, accepting on this occasion the task of organising the Sixth Conference in Madrid from 22 to 27 October 1984. Since then, the Court has not only participated in this Conference, but there are also many other actions in the field of international cooperation, in particular the Ibero-American Conference of Constitutional Courts of Latin America, Portugal and Spain, promoted by the Constitutional Court as part of the University Colloquium on the fifteenth anniversary of LOTC in 1994, which constitutes a stable framework for multilateral cooperation through regular meetings of the various courts with constitutional competence in the countries mentioned. The preparatory meeting for the first Conference was held in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) on 20 and 21 January 1995.
Similarly, since 1999, a Trilateral Conference of the Constitutional Courts of Spain, Portugal and Italy has been set up, as have other international events such as seminars, working visits, etc.
The Constitutional Court and its renewal process to appoint new Magistrates
Article 159.3 of the Constitution provides that the members of the Constitutional Court are appointed for a period of nine years and are renewed by one third every three years.
In the history of the Court, the renewal process of Magistrates has taken on different forms. Since it was impossible to comply with the rule of one-third renewal and the nine-year term for founding members, the Constitution provided a different modality to the principle set out. In its ninth transitional clause, it specifies that three years after the first appointments, a group of four Magistrates shall be randomly chosen and will be required to leave office for the purpose of being replaced. This first group was composed of Magistrates elected on the proposal of the Government and the General Council for the Judiciary. Three years later, another group composed of the four Magistrates elected on the proposal of the Congress of Deputies was then led to the termination of their terms in office, although the Congress voted in favour of the continuity of each of them. Since then, the Court has been renewed ten times, the last four Magistrates having been appointed by Royal Decree of 20 July 2012. During the course of the Court's existence, many Magistrate seats became vacant as a result of resignation or death and were thus reallocated according to the same procedure. Sometimes, more or less significant delays could be observed for the new Magistrates as a result of the internal processes of the constitutional bodies in charge of proposing these new members.
| Renovaciones |
Gobierno-CGPJ |
Senado |
Congreso |
| Inicio |
1980 |
| 1, 2 3 y 4 |
|
|
1983 |
| 1986 |
1989 |
1992 |
| 5, 6 y 7 |
1995 |
1998 |
2001 |
| 8, 9 y 10 |
2004 |
2007 |
2010 |
| 11, 12 y 13 |
2013 |
2016 |
2019 |
| 14, 15 y 16 |
2022 |
2025 |
2028 |
Thus, the Constitutional Court has granted the status of Magistrate to 59 members since its creation, some of them having even been renewed in their offices on more than one occasion: