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Published in:
The Metamorphoses of Civil Justice and Civil Procedure: The Challenges of New Paradigms—Unity and Diversity Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Between Reform and Dejudicialization: Current Trends in Spanish Civil Litigation

Author : Fernando Gascón Inchausti

Published in: Transformation of Civil Justice

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Over the last 20 years the Spanish civil justice system has been very significantly transformed. The starting point was the new Code of Civil Procedure (2000), the main goal of which was to improve the quality of first instance proceedings and to secure greater efficiency in enforcement. From then, the whole Spanish dispute resolution system has been changed through further reforms. The role of the judge in the civil lawsuit has been partially modified and there has been strong reliance on the positive trend towards promoting mediation and other forms of ADR.

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previous chapter Informatization of the Civil Justice System in Poland: An Overview of Recent Changes
next chapter The Disappearing Trial: Retrenchment of Litigation in North America
Footnotes
1
See Fairén Guillén (1953), Montero Aroca (1982) and Montero Aroca (1996), 189–275.
 
2
Ley 34/1984, de 6 de agosto, de reforma urgente de la Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil: the extent of the reform was wide: suppression of mandatory conciliation; introduction of a new preliminary hearing; reform of the appeal for cassation. This reform, however, was enacted before a relevant reform of the judiciary was put into place in 1985. The 1992 reform was put into effect by Ley 10/1992, de 30 de abril, de Medidas Urgentes de Reforma Procesal, mainly affecting the appeal for cassation and enforcement proceedings.
 
3
See, among many other handbooks: de la Oliva Santos et al. (2017); de la Oliva Santos et al. (2016); Ortells Ramos (2017); Armenta Deu (2017); and Nieva Fenoll (2016). Statistical data in this paper have been retrieved from an official publication of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (Consejo General del Poder Judicial) appearing yearly, titled La Justicia Dato a Dato—The Spanish Judiciary in figures, published both in Spanish and in English. See http://​www.​poderjudicial.​es/​cgpj/​es/​Temas/​Estadistica-Judicial/​Estudios-e-Informes/​Justicia-Dato-a-Dato/​. Accessed 7 June 2018. I have used the data that appear in the 2016 report.
 
4
See Ley 60/2003, de 23 de diciembre, de Arbitraje, for arbitration; Ley 5/2012, de 6 de julio, de mediación en asuntos civiles y mercantiles, for mediation; and Ley 15/2015, de 2 de julio, de la Jurisdicción Voluntaria (Arts. 139–148), for conciliation.
 
5
See Ley 22/2003, de 9 de julio, Concursal.
 
6
See de la Oliva Santos (2000); de la Oliva Santos (2012) and Montero Aroca (2001).
 
7
Article 31 LEC.
 
8
There were 5692 judges in Spain in 2016 (The Spanish Judiciary in figures 2016, 11).
 
9
The document “The Spanish Judiciary in figures” uses the term “solicitor” in its English version to refer to procuradores, although there are relevant differences between both legal professionals.
 
10
On this issue, see de la Oliva Santos (2005); Tapia Fernández (2000) and Ormazábal Sánchez (2007).
 
11
See Vallines García (2004).
 
12
The data for commercial courts seem alarming: 44.8 months. However, they relate only to insolvency proceedings, which overburdened those courts during the “heavy” years of economic downturn.
 
13
In the so-called Libro Blanco de la Justicia, approved by the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary, p 67.
 
14
Judgment of 14 June 2012, C-618/10, Banco Español de Crédito, ECLI:EU:C:2012:349.
 
15
According to the Instituto Cervantes, an English translation could be: “Let’s hope you have lawsuits, and that you win them” (https://​cvc.​cervantes.​es/​lengua/​refranero/​Ficha.​aspx?​Par=​59297&​Lng=​0). Accessed 7 June 2018.
 
16
The following link will lead to that platform: https://​subastas.​boe.​es/​. Accessed 7 June 2018.
 
17
The leading case law can be found in the Judgment of 14 March 2013, C-415/11, Aziz (ECLI:EU:C:2013:164), followed by the Order of 14 November 2011, C-537/12, Banco Popular Español (ECLI:EU:C:2013:759); and in the Judgment of 17 July 2014, C-169/14, Sánchez Morcillo and Abril García (ECLI:EU:C:2014:2099), followed by the Order of 16 July 2015, C-539/14, Sánchez Morcillo and Abril García (ECLI:EU:C:2015:508).
 
18
This adaptation to the ECJ case law was not performed at one time, but through four different acts amending the Code: (i) Ley 1/2013, de 14 de mayo, de medidas para reforzar la protección a los deudores hipotecarios, reestructuración de deuda y alquiler social (just two months after the ECJ Aziz Judgment); (ii) Ley 8/2013, de 26 de junio, de rehabilitación, regeneración y renovación urbanas; (iii) Real Decreto-ley 11/2014, de 5 de septiembre, de medidas urgentes en materia concursal (once again, two months after the ECJ Sánchez Morcillo Judgment, followed by Ley 9/2015, de 25 de mayo, de medidas urgentes en materia concursal; (iv) and Ley 42/2015, de 5 de octubre, de reforma de la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil (as a belated answer to the ECJ Banco Español de Crédito Judgment).
 
19
Apart from the decisions already mentioned in n. 18 above and 22 below, see also Judgment of 6 October 2009, C-40/08, Asturcom Telecomunicaciones (ECLI:EU:C:2009:615), on ex officio control of unfair contract terms during the enforcement of arbitral awards; Judgment of 3 October 2013, C-32/12, Duarte Hueros (ECLI:EU:C:2013:637); Judgment of 5 December 2013, C-413/12, Asociación de Consumidores Independientes de Castilla y León (ECLI:EU:C:2013:800); Judgment of 21 January 2015, C-482/13, Unicaja Banco (ECLI:EU:C:2015:21); Order of 11 June 2015, C-602/13, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (ECLI:EU:C:2015:397); Judgment of 29 October 2015, C-8/14, BBVA (ECLI:EU:C:2015:731); Judgment of 18 February 2016, C-49/14, Finanmadrid EFC (ECLI:EU:C:2016:98); Order of 8 July 2015, C-90/14, Banco Grupo Cajatres (ECLI:EU:C:2015:465); Judgment of 14 April 2016, C-381/14, Sales Sinués (ECLI:EU:C:2016:252), addressing the relationship between collective and individual proceedings; Order of 21 June 2016, C-122/14, Aktiv Kapital Portfolio (ECLI:EU:C:2016:486); Judgment of 26 January 2017, C-421/14, Banco Primus (ECLI:EU:C:2017:60); Order of 26 October 2016, C-568/14, Fernández Oliva (ECLI:EU:C:2016:828), criticizing that provisional measures cannot be granted ex officio by civil courts in cases dealing with unfair contract terms; Order of 17 March 2016, C-613/15, Ibercaja Banco (ECLI:EU:C:2016:195). This large number of decisions shows how Spanish courts of instance had no confidence in the Spanish Supreme Court to provide a reasonable interpretation on EU consumer protective statutes, and instead submitted requests for preliminary rulings to the ECJ; the inherent criticism directed towards superior courts, however, is not always justified.
 
20
See Banacloche Palao (2009); Blasco Soto (2010) and de Benito Llopis-Llombart (2017b).
 
21
See Ley 13/2009, de 3 de noviembre, de reforma de la legislación procesal para la implantación de la nueva Oficina judicial, which amended all procedural codes (not only the civil procedural code).
 
22
See Banacloche Palao (2016).
 
23
Judgment of 16 February 2017, C-503/15, Margarit Panicello (ECLI:EU:C:2017:126).
 
24
See Ley 10/2012, de 20 de noviembre, por la que se regulan determinadas tasas en el ámbito de la Administración de Justicia y del Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses; the step was first taken by Real Decreto-ley 1/2015, de 27 de febrero, de mecanismo de segunda oportunidad, reducción de carga financiera y otras medidas de orden social, eventually enacted as Ley 25/2015, de 28 de julio, de mecanismo de segunda oportunidad, reducción de la carga financiera y otras medidas de orden social.
 
25
Judgment of the Spanish Constitutional Court 140/2016 of 21 July 2016.
 
26
Through Ley 7/2017, de 2 de noviembre, por la que se incorpora al ordenamiento jurídico español la Directiva 2013/11/UE, del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 21 de mayo de 2013, relativa a la resolución alternativa de litigios en materia de consumo.
 
27
See Judgment of 18 March 2010, C-317/08, Alassini and Others (ECLI:EU:C:2010:146) and Judgment of 14 June 2017, C-75/16, Menini and Rampanelli (ECLI:EU:C:2017:457).
 
29
In 2015, the number of new cases was 60,861 (The Spanish Judiciary in figures 2015, 62). The 2016 report shows a much higher number of new non-contentious proceedings: 116,944 (The Spanish Judiciary in figures 2016, 67). The report explains that as from 2016 the statistics include among the notion of non-contentious proceedings settlements before court clerks.
 
30
In 2016, there were 71,101 new cases of undisputed divorce or separation, against 48,758 new contentious proceedings (The Spanish Judiciary in figures 2016, 66).
 
31
Ley del Notariado de 28 de mayo de 1862.
 
32
In their first three months of functioning, these specialized courts have received more than 57,000 new claims, according to press releases issued by the General Council of the Judiciary.
 
33
See Real Decreto-ley 1/2017, de 20 de enero, de medidas urgentes de protección de consumidores en materia de cláusulas suelo.
 
34
The clearest example can be found in the Judgment of 3 October 2013, C-32/12, Duarte Hueros (ECLI:EU:C:2013:637), where criticisms to the rule on preclusion of Article 400 LEC were founded on a serious misrepresentation of its wording and meaning.
 
35
Arts. 557.1.7 LEC and 695.1.4 LEC after the 2013 reform (put into effect by the Ley 1/2013, de 14 de mayo, de medidas para reforzar la protección a los deudores hipotecarios, reestructuración de deuda y alquiler social).
 
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Metadata
Title
Between Reform and Dejudicialization: Current Trends in Spanish Civil Litigation
Author
Fernando Gascón Inchausti
Copyright Year
2018
Book
Transformation of Civil Justice

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97357-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-97358-6

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97358-6_7

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