The Courts of Violence Against Women and the Right to the Ordinary Judge Predetermined by Law

Abstract

Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, 2004, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence created the Courts for Violence against Women, specialized courts which are exclusively responsible for hearing civil and criminal disputes arising in the area of gender violence. The starting hypothesis stems from the doubts raised by the doctrine about the possible constitutionality of these Courts in relation to the provisions of the fundamental right to a legal judge recognized in Art. 24 of the Constitution. It should not be forgotten that this right not only requires a law that creates the jurisdictional court, but also requires, in order to guarantee the impartiality and, above all, the independence required of any jurisdictional body, the generic and a priori determination of the competence, as well as the legal predetermination of the rules of composition of the court. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the possible violation of this fundamental right in view of the fact that the competence of such Courts has been determined according to the sex of the victim of the crime. In order to carry out this work, we have proceeded to analyze the legislation, the most relevant doctrine on the subject, as well as the jurisprudence, both constitutional and minor, which deals with the right in question, using a deductive methodology. It is concluded as a result, that our legislator was not very careful with the respect to the fundamental right enunciated violating it.