History

Download chapter This first chapter deals with the Spanish judicial structure at the time of the Columbian project that dominated during the late Middle Ages. The popular influence in the administration of justice had diminished, and the tendency to be centered on the state was imposed both in Castile-Leon and in Aragon; with a justice composed of professional, learned judges, who dispensed it in the name of their kings.

Download chapter This second chapter details the first Spanish colony in the New World, the administration and delegation of justice by the Catholic Monarchs to Admiral Christopher Columbus Fontanarossa, which resulted in the "Capitulations of Santa Fe" of April 17, 1492, signed by King Ferdinand V of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile in Santa Fe de La Vega de Granada, the military camp from which the last Moorish stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula was taken possession of.

Download chapter This section reviews the Royal Provision dictated in Medina del Campo on June 22, 1497, by which pardon was granted to those who had committed crimes of any kind except heresy, lese majeste, treason, false currency or sodomy, among others, provided they went to serve the Spanish Island, or the other islands and mainland, for as long as the Admiral ordered them to serve the Catholic Monarchs.

Download chapter This unit describes how the first judges and the judicial organization in Hispaniola came about. Colonial Justice in these early times was composed of the Governor, who was the judge, mayors, bailiffs, notaries and lawyers (letrados or procuradores).

Download chapter It refers to the stage of the second half of the century of the Enlightenment, the way in which the renaissance stage for the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, and the reform of the Bourbon monarchy produced some manifestations of rebellion or protest of the armed body due to economic constraints, as well as the survival of the Royal Archives of Bayaguana, Higüey, Monte Plata and El Seíbo, due to such manifestations.

Download chapter This chapter details the unstable period that Dominican justice endured in the years 1800-1821, the events that prompted the Creoles to rebel against the French occupation, and with the help of English troops who were also fighting against Napoleon, expelled the French troops from the former Spanish part of the Island. There were differences among the Creoles as to what course to take after the withdrawal of the French troops.

Download chapter This section relates the end of the colonial system that governed for more than three hundred years, beginning the one that still governs in the Dominican Republic the French law, which occurred during the 22 years of the occupation of Santo Domingo. The period during which the political system emerged from the French Revolution arrived, and in which the new basic laws, the Napoleonic codes, began to rule in what became years later the Dominican Republic.

Download chapter This chapter describes the history of the Dominican Judicial Branch, its inclusion in the first constitution drafted after the proclamation of the Dominican Republic, "the Constitution of San Cristobal", in which Dominicans had the opportunity to decide on the direction the country should take in judicial matters.

Download chapter This chapter describes the process of annexation to Spain of the Republic in arms (1861-1865), and the origin of the Royal Decree, which was issued in Aranjuez, on May 19, 1861, proclaiming the Annexation or Reincorporation of the Dominican Republic as the Province of Santo Domingo to the Kingdom of Spain, and finally the repeal of the latter Decree on May 3, 1865.

 Download chapter This section presents the way in which the institutional and political instability that took place during the Second Republic affected the Judicial Branch, due to the fact that during that period four different Judicial Organization Laws were passed. It should be noted that as of 1880, the Judicial Bulletin was established as an organ of the Supreme Court of Justice, published every two weeks, and where the sentences of that high court were to be published.

Download chapter This chapter reviews the constitutional and legal changes in judicial matters that our country endured, highlighting the Constitution proclaimed in 1908, which remained in force until the U.S. Military Intervention of 1916, which brought important innovations to the Dominican Judicial Branch.

Download chapter This chapter refers to Dominican justice during the period of U.S. intervention, with a U.S. officer deciding whether a punishable act would be tried by U.S. military personnel in a military court under U.S. martial laws or whether the accused would go to the ordinary Dominican courts for trial under the procedures of national laws.

Download chapter This section describes the events that took place after the U.S. military occupation, as a result of the Hughes-Peynado Plan of 1922, which implied a staggered process to achieve full sovereignty. Then in the years 1924-1930, the Dominican justice system, due to the constitutional reforms that were carried out, was distinguished by a relative institutional stability, which was reflected in the independence of the Judicial Power.

Download chapter This penultimate section summarizes the stages experienced by the Judicial Branch, from May 16, 1930 until May 30, 1961, known as the Trujillo Era, highlighting that the Dominican justice system was a trapped justice system, obedient to the dictates of the ruler and identified with the regime. The laws were always drafted and approved with the utmost care in form and substance. Generally related to the needs of the regime or the whims of the Dictator.

Download chapter Finally, it reviews the Dominican justice in the process of destrujillización of the country, the provisions contained in the constitutions of the years 1963 and 1966, related to the Judicial Power, highlighting the creation of new courts of appeal, new civil and criminal chambers, the increase in the number of judges in the same and new laws that made modifications to the exceptions of the civil procedure, the development of the debates, the defect and among other things established a new resource, the Challenge, which also took the French name of "Le Contredit".

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