Civil procedure is governed by the act or code of 1881, as amended, and the judiciary act of 1870, as amended in 1882. The code of 1881 in amended form was extended to Porto Rico in 1885 and to the Philippines in 1888. Procedure in commercial cases is governed by the code of civil procedure since commercial courts were abolished in 1868. The code of civil procedure, which is arranged in three books, contains some provisions in conflict with the civil code, which was enacted subsequently. Spanish civil procedure is divided into two classes according to the nature of the ac tion, contentious and voluntary or non-contentious (voluntarta). Voluntary jurisdiction is used when there is no contention between the but judicial proceedings are necessary to fix legal rights, as in cases of guardianship, administration, adoption and the like. This resembles the non-contentious juris diction of France, Germany and other countries of Europe. A rather remarkable feature of the code is that it provides for arbitration of civil actions out of court. Special provisions are also made in this code for procedure in voluntary jurisdiction in commercial cases.
Notarial law is of more importance than in Great Britain or the United States. Under Spanish law nearly all deeds, contracts and important agreements must be certified by a notary.
Military and naval courts of Spain have ampler powers than in the United States. The military law is governed by the code of military justice promulgated in 1890. Naval jurisdic tion is considered as belonging to the military establishment, but is largely governed by the penal code of admiralty of 1888. There are no separate admiralty courts in Spain for civil cases, the ordinary tribunals having jurisdiction of such suits.
The ancient Spanish codes treated the sub ject of criminal law quite completely. For merly the laws were unusually harsh, but during the 19th century, in keeping with the spirit of the times, many reforms were introduced, some as early as 1812. The present code, authorized by the act of June 1870, made only a few ma terial changes from the code of 1848. Modifi cations of the present code were made in 1876, 1904 and 1908. An amendment of this code was extended to Cuba and Porto Rico in 1879 and to the Philippines in 1886. The Spanish criminal law classifies offenses according to their nature into felonies, crimes and misde meanors. Punishments arc classified as afflict ive, correctional, light and accessory. The first class commences with death and includes nu merous forms of imprisonment down to dis qualifications. The second class includes im prisonment and arrest, public censure and suspension from the privilege of holding cer tain offices or pursuing certain callings. The lighter forms of punishment include arrest and private censure. In any of these three classes offenders may also be fined or put under recog nizance. The accessory punishments include payment of costs, civil interdiction and degra dation. Until modern times the system of criminal procedure under the codes was the secret and written procedure, the hampered de fense and torture. This system was reformed
by the code or act of 1882, which substituted the accusatory system. This code to date has had few amendments. It was extended after amendment to the Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rico, where it became effective in 1889. Among the most important changes in procedure in Spain in recent years was the re-establishment of the jury in criminal trials in cases of felo nies and some misdemeanors (1888), but it has not been extended to Cuba, Porto Rico or the Philippines; nor is it employed in many of the Mexican states or in the remaining Spanish American countries. Every trial involving the more serious offenses is commenced by a summario, which resembles the secret investi gation of a grand jury, after which the accused is kept in solitary confinement while an ex parte investigation is made by a judge of the first instance and the state's attorney (fiscal). Pro ceedings based on the constitutional provision prohibiting the detention of accused persons except for just cause somewhat resemble habeas corpus proceedings of the United States and Great Britain.
The judiciary act, comprising 932 articles, supplemented by special statutes, makes pro vision for the various courts. There are three grades of civil courts: Courts of the first in stance, courts of appeal and the Supreme Court, which sits at Madrid. Jury trial is not em ployed in civil cases.
Spanish law differs radically from that of Great Britain and the United States in having no judicial legislation (so-called "judge-made law"), the decisions of none of its courts hav ing binding power as precedents.
The official legislation of modern Spain com menced, it may be said, with the convening of the Cortes in 1810, and two years later the first constitution was promulgated. Previous legis lation consisted of edicts of the kings with codes of law authorized by royal decree. The Supreme Court was authorized by the constitu tion of 1812, but it was not finally organized until 1834. An reform in the crim inal law was made by the act of 1908, relating to conditional sentence, by which, under certain circumstances, sentences may be suspended. Capital punishment still exists, although many efforts have been made to abolish it. Another feature of modern legislation provides in case of wrongful convictions, under certain cir cumstances, that thejudges are held civilly liable. In late years Spain has enacted many laws providing for social and economic reform. Among them may be mentioned a workmen's compensation act (1900) ; industrial courts to adjust differences between employers and em ployees (1908) ; a national institute for old-age pensions (1908) ; regulation of employment of women and children (1900-08) ; recognizing the right of employers to organize and of em ployees to organize and strike, and fixing pen alties for inciting employees to strike. Other legislation of a similar nature is still (1918) pending.