Spanish courts and tribunals experienced a 6.5% rise in litigation in 2022

Civil and criminal were the jurisdictional orders where more new matters entered

MADRID, 8 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish courts and tribunals registered a total of 6,682,587 cases in 2022, which represents 6.5% more cases than during the previous year, with the Canary Islands and Andalusia being the autonomous communities with the greatest litigation, according to the statistical report on the situation of the judicial bodies published this Wednesday by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

As reported by the governing body of judges, of the total number of cases registered, 6,458,696 procedures were resolved, 2.1% more than in the previous year. However, the number of procedures that were pending resolution as of December 31 (3,393,755) also increased by 7.9%.

The CGPJ points out that the increase in jurisdictional activity is a consequence of the increase in newly filed cases in civil orders, with 2,806,650 (8.5% more), and criminal, with 3,216,919 (6.6 % further).

It details that in the civil order, 2,636,000 matters were resolved, 1.9% more, and 1,915,339 remained pending, 9.8% more; while in criminal justice, 3,167,765 cases were resolved, 3.6% more than the previous year, with 892,023 cases pending, 9.1% more.

However, in the contentious-administrative and social orders the trend was the opposite. In the first, there were 219,265 new cases, which represented a decrease of 2.4% in relation to the previous year. In addition, 223,686 were resolved, 0.4% less, and 219,173 cases remained pending, 0.8% less.

In the social order, the number of new cases (439,583) suffered a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%. They also showed a 5.1% decrease in resolved cases, which totaled 431,068, as well as pending cases, which in total were 367,136, 1.3% less.

The litigation rate in Spain as a whole was 140.8 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, the Autonomous Communities with the highest litigation being the Canary Islands (181), Andalucía (149.6), Asturias (145.4), Madrid (145, 2), Murcia (144.8), Catalonia (144.6), the Balearic Islands (142.3) and the Valencian Community (141.3).

In contrast, the territories with the lowest litigation rate were La Rioja (101.7), the Basque Country (105.3) and Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Navarra (113.5).

However, the CGPJ warns that, "as a consequence of the strike of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ), it has been necessary to make estimates due to the absence of data from nine courts", as well as that "they remain under review errors those of another 20 judicial bodies".