MADRID, Spain - The judges of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) of the Dominican Republic met with their counterparts of the Supreme Court of Spain and members of the General Council of the Judiciary of that nation for the purpose of exchanging best practices on the admission of cassation appeals.
The delegation that is in Spain is headed by Justice Francisco Jerez Mena, president of the aforementioned chamber; and is completed by judges María Garabito and Nancy Salcedo, as well as judges Fran Soto Sánchez and Francisco Ortega Polanco; in addition, César García Lucas, secretary general of the Supreme Court of Justice, and Carina Jiménez, manager of the criminal area of the Technical Cabinet of the SCJ. The Dominican judges were accompanied by the ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Spain, Juan Bolívar Díaz.
The Dominican commission was received by Dr. Manuel Marchena, President of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, who offered welcoming remarks.
Among the topics on the agenda discussed by the judges were: the process of admission and processing of appeals in the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court and the organization of the Criminal Area of the Technical Office. Also the interest of appeal, motivation of judicial decisions and data protection in judicial decisions.
As for the interest of appeal, it is that recognized as transcendent in its jurisprudential projection, above the case itself, so as to avoid having to issue judgments that, given the nature of the case and its solution, would not contribute anything to the jurisprudential acquis, for being reiterative or insubstantial.
This figure is transcendent to the procedural parties that may present the resolution of a cassation appeal, i.e., an interest that is distinct and above the interest of the litigants, for which purpose the modality of objective cassation interest was chosen.
In this sense, the president of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court said that the interest of appeal is the defense mechanism against the appeal in cassation, and this one faces the formalities with the incorporation of a Technical Cabinet.
"The Technical Cabinet is the starting engine of the room. It has primarily a mission of analyzing the incoming flow of cases. It is the filter that ensures that the cases enter the chamber and culminate in sentences. It predetermines what the jurisprudence will be," he said.
He indicated that the Spanish cassation model avoids the need for remand, that most of the cases are resolved in the Second Chamber, which receives around 12,000 cases to resolve.
Technical Cabinet SCJ
During the meeting, the Dominican delegation was also informed about the organization of the Technical Cabinet, in order to see how it is managed and to adopt practices that could enrich the operation of this body in the Dominican Supreme Court of Justice.
It is recalled that the Technical Cabinet is an organ of support to the judicial function composed of the presiding magistrate of the SCJ and the presidents of each Chamber, whose objective is to analyze and propose possible solutions, on the files of which it is in charge, through the preparation of a report in the Contentious Appeals and the Draft Resolution in Administrative Appeals, which facilitates and expedites the work of the judges.
Through the implementation of the Technical Cabinet, the aim is to strengthen the fight against judicial delinquency, constituting this body as a support entity for judges in their daily work.
The delegation of judges of the Second Chamber of the SCJ met with Mr. Rafael Mozo Muelas, president p.s. of the General Council of the Judiciary; Juan Manuel San Cristóbal Villanueva, magistrate director of the Technical Office of the Supreme Court; Luis de Arcos Pérez, director of the International Relations Service; Manuel Marchena, president of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court and with Javier Hernández García, magistrate of that chamber and participant in theTwinning program of the European Union with the Dominican Republic(Twining) . Also, the coordinators of the Criminal Chamber Miguel Ángel del Encinar del Pozo and Ángeles Villegas García.
Visit to the Constitutional Court
Later, the Dominican delegation was received by the President of the Spanish Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido Tourón. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the TC, Juan Carlos Duque Villanueva and several lawyers from the Criminal Chamber, with whom they also shared best practices.
