What is the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction?
The Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction (LJCA) is the branch of the Judicial Power that is in charge of the knowledge and inspection of all the processes related to the application of the Law, that is, the one referring to the normative set destined to the control of legality with respect to the administrative action and, the submission of this activity to the purposes that justify it, as well as the attention of all those resources of the administered that proceed against the resolutions of the administration that they consider unfair.
Therefore, the Administrative Litigation Jurisdiction is established for the purpose of judging administrative controversies and litigation that arise with respect to the activity of public entities and those private persons who are in charge of performing the different internal functions. of the different organs corresponding to the State.
Depending on the countries, a part of the administration of justice may correspond, as is the case in Spain, or it may also belong to a high administrative body, generally a Council of State, as in the case of France.
How is the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction represented and what are its actions?
In the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction, the State is mainly represented by the administrative authority, and in its operation related to individuals, two types of acts are carried out, which are:
- Management Acts: Are those acts in which the State acts as a legal person, as a subject of private law, this action can be through the celebration of agreements or contracts. The administrative authority is subject to the judiciary, in the same way as in the case of individuals.
- Acts of Authority: They are those acts executed by the State through the authority, that is, the actions can be carried out "Commanding, prohibiting, allowing or sanctioning". In these cases, the authority is only subject to the Law, except that with the applied acts it may harm the Political or Civil Rights of individuals, it is then where the act itself would become an illegal or abusive act and, therefore, therefore, it would be subject to claim.
The claim made by the individual about the illegal or abusive acts of the authority of the Administration before the Judicial Power, is what is known as "Administrative Litigation". It is summarized then, that this act is the dispute between the Administrative Authority (State) with individuals.
What laws govern the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction?
The judicial control of the acts and regulations generated by the Public Administration in Spain is guaranteed by Art. 106.1 of the Spanish Constitution.
This article 106.1 of the Spanish Constitution is the one that establishes that "The Courts" can control the regulatory power and therefore the legality that corresponds to the administrative action, as well as its submission to the purposes that justify it.
According to Law 29/1998, of July 13, Regulating the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction, indicates in its Art. 1., that the Courts and Tribunals are in charge of the contentious-administrative order and that, therefore, they must know the claims that are deduced in relation to the action of the corresponding Public Administrations that are subject to Administrative Law, with respect to the general provisions of a lower rank than the Law and also, with the legislative Law when these are exceeded in terms of the limits of the delegation.
Who makes up the Public Administration?
According to Art. 2., of Law 29/1998, of July 13, Regulating the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction, the following will be understood by the effects of Public Administrations:
- The General State Administration.
- The Administrations of the Autonomous Communities.
- The Entities that make up the local Administration
- Public Law Entities that are dependent or linked to the State, the Autonomous Communities or the local Entities.
Who makes up the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdictional order?
It is made up of the following bodies:
- Contentious-Administrative Courts.
- Courts of Central of the Contentious-Administrative.
- Contentious-Administrative Chambers of the Superior Courts of Justice.
- Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court.
- Contentious Chamber. Administrative of the Supreme Court.
What are the powers that correspond to the Contentious-Administrative Courts?
The jurisdiction of the contentious-administrative Courts, which are single-person Courts, are the following:
- Appeal of the contentious-administrative type that has relation to the jurisdictional protection of the fundamental rights, the regulated elements and decision of the compensations that were coming related to the acts of Government or of the Governing Councils of the Autonomous Communities, regardless of whether it was the nature of these acts.
- The respective administrative contracts and acts of preparation and award of the other contracts that are subject to the procurement legislation of the Public Administrations.
- Regarding the acts and provisions of Public Law Corporations, adopted in the respective exercise of public functions.
- What corresponds to the administrative acts of control or supervision that are dictated by the granting Administration, with respect to those dictated by the concessionaires of public services that imply the exercise of administrative powers conferred on them.
- The patrimonial responsibility of the public Administrations, regardless of the nature of the activity or the type of relationship that arises from it, not being able to be sued for this reason before the civil or social jurisdictional orders.
- And all other matters that are related or expressly attributed by the Law.
Within the Contentious Jurisdiction which acts are excluded?
The following issues are excluded from the Contentious Jurisdictional order:
- Those attributed to the civil, criminal and social jurisdictional orders, even if they are related to the corresponding activity with the Public Administration.
- Regarding the contentious-administrative military appeal.
- Regarding the conflicts of jurisdiction between the Courts and Tribunals and the respective Public Administration, as well as the conflicts of powers arising between bodies of the same Administration.
What are the deadlines for filing the appeal?
The deadlines for filing the contentious-administrative appeal are as follows:
- Express acts: They are two (2) months counted from the day following the publication of the corresponding contested provision or the notification or publication of the act, by which the administrative procedure must be terminated, if express.
- The alleged acts: called administrative silences, in which there are six (6) that will be counted for the applicant and other possible interested parties. From the next day for all those, who, according to their specific regulations, the presumed administrative act occurs.
It is noteworthy that the Full Constitutional Court (TC), in the judgment of April 10, 2014, clearly established that when the Administration rejects a request from an individual due to administrative silence, there is no deadline to file an appeal before the contentious-administrative jurisdiction .
Contentious-administrative appeal case for action in fact.
In the particular case in which the contentious-administrative appeal is directed against an action in fact, the corresponding period for this procedure will be 10 days counted specifically from the day following the end of the period established in Art. 30, in where it is specified that the interested party may formulate the request to the acting Administration, intimating its cessation.
If, on the contrary, the notice has not been formulated or attended within ten (10) days following the presentation of the request, then a contentious-administrative appeal may be directly deduced, if the case is, that there was no requirement , the term will be thirty (30) days counting from the day on which the administrative action in fact began.
