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Magistrates' Court Statistics

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address
    Paseo de la Castellana 183 - 28046 Madrid
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    22/11/2022
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    30/04/2019
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    22/11/2022
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The statistics of Magistrates' Courts provides results of the judicial activity of the Magistrates' Courts in the Civil and Criminal areas, excluding the possible activity linked to the functions of the Civil Registry.

    It consists in one statistic whose source of information are the Magistrates' Courts own and it collects all underlying work load over the reference year.

    Main characteristics of researched legal activities On the Civil area, the movement of issues incurred in the year (admitted and decided cases) as well as the typology of matters resolved (oral proceedings, civil judicial assistance, acts of conciliation and other matters) are studied. In criminal area, the movement of matters incurred (admitted and decided cases) and the typology of the resolved cases (criminal judicial assistancel and other matters) are studied.

  • 3.2Classification system
    • Asuntos civiles resueltos
      1   Juicios verbales
      2   Actos de conciliación
      3   Auxilios judiciales civiles
      O   Resto de asuntos civiles
    • Asuntos penales resueltos
      1   Juicios de faltas
      2   Auxilios judiciales penales
      3   Diligencias previas
      O   Resto de asuntos penales
    • Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
      01   Andalucía
      02   Aragón
      03   Asturias, Principado de
      04   Balears, Illes
      05   Canarias
      06   Cantabria
      07   Castilla y León
      08   Castilla - La Mancha
      09   Cataluña
      10   Comunitat Valenciana
      11   Extremadura
      12   Galicia
      13   Madrid, Comunidad de
      14   Murcia, Región de
      15   Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
      16   País Vasco
      17   Rioja, La
      18   Ceuta
      19   Melilla
    • Estado del asunto jurídico
      1   Ingresados
      2   Resueltos
    • Provincias
      02   Albacete
      03   Alicante/Alacant
      04   Almería
      01   Araba/Álava
      33   Asturias
      05   Ávila
      06   Badajoz
      07   Balears, Illes
      08   Barcelona
      48   Bizkaia
      09   Burgos
      10   Cáceres
      11   Cádiz
      39   Cantabria
      12   Castellón/Castelló
      13   Ciudad Real
      14   Córdoba
      15   Coruña, A
      16   Cuenca
      20   Gipuzkoa
      17   Girona
      18   Granada
      19   Guadalajara
      21   Huelva
      22   Huesca
      23   Jaén
      24   León
      25   Lleida
      27   Lugo
      28   Madrid
      29   Málaga
      30   Murcia
      31   Navarra
      32   Ourense
      34   Palencia
      35   Palmas, Las
      36   Pontevedra
      26   Rioja, La
      37   Salamanca
      38   Santa Cruz de Tenerife
      40   Segovia
      41   Sevilla
      42   Soria
      43   Tarragona
      44   Teruel
      45   Toledo
      46   Valencia/València
      47   Valladolid
      49   Zamora
      50   Zaragoza
      51   Ceuta
      52   Melilla
    • Tipo de asunto jurídico
      1   Civil
      2   Penal
  • 3.3Sector coverage

    The statistic covers all civil and criminal cases have been subjected to the activity of the Magistrates Court, during the reference year.

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Act of conciliation
      This is a voluntary, straightforward and free procedure, which enables the parties to seek a mutual understanding and conciliation of interests prior to taking action. It allows a more agile management because the citation is far more quick than in declarative proceedings.
    • Civil case
      Case relating to the relations between individuals or companies, with regard to their legal capacity and situation
    • Criminal case
      Case relating to the crimes and misdemeanors that imply the application of a sentence on their perpetrators
    • Issue admitted or resolved
      Included in this concept are both the different rulings by the Magistrates' Courts and other types of actions or activities performed in the carrying out of their jurisdictional role. A distinction is made between issused admitted during the reference year, and issues resolved during that year.
    • Judicial assistance
      Request for judicial cooperation that a court makes to another of the same grade (notices, requests, etc.). The judicial assistance stems from the need to help each other courts for practicing the steps that are necessary in the conduct of civil or criminal cases that are entrusted. The civil judicial assistance is associated with a civil procedure and criminal judicial assistance which is derived from criminal proceedings.
    • Verbal trial
      Declarative process aimed at litigations characterised, first of all, due to the simple nature of the issue, and secondly, by its small economic interest.
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    Civil and criminal matters in Magistrates' Courts.

  • 3.6Statistical population

    The population studied in the statistic are civil and criminal matters of all Spanis Magistrates' Courts during the reference period

  • 3.7Reference area

    From a geographical point of view, the statistics cover the entire national territory, except Ceuta and Melilla, as there is not magistrates courts both self-governing cities.
    In every table is provided national, autonomous and provincial information.

  • 3.8Time coverage

    There are results available on the INE website from the year 1998.

    This statistical operation was stopped by the INE in the year 2018, with the publication of the annual reference period 2018. Its elaboration from that moment on was assumed by the Ministry of Justice

  • 3.9Base period

    A base period does not exist in this statistic, but since reference year 2007 the results are comparable

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    Number of matters, both civil or penal and admitted or settled.

• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    These statistics have an annual frequency. Data related to civil matters and criminal cases have been recorded in the Magistrates' Courts during the reference calendar year.

    Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2018

• 6Institutional mandate
  • 6.1Legal acts and other agreements

    The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15  December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).

    
    

    This statistical operation is carried out in collaboration with the General Council of the Judiciary under the agreement signed between the National Institute of Statistics and that institution on 14 February 1995, and later addendums.

  • 6.2Data sharing
    The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
    

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• 7Confidentiality
  • 7.1Confidentiality - policy
    The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
    
  • 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
    INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
    

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• 8Release policy
  • 8.1Release calendar
    The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
    
  • 8.2Release calendar access
    The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
    
  • 8.3User access
    The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    The results of the Magistrates' Courts Statistics are released every year.

• 10Accessibility and clarity
  • 10.1News release
    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
    
  • 10.2Publications

    All the information related to the Magistrates' Courts Statistics is published in the INE website:

    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176794&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735573206

     

  • 10.3On-line database

    INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

    
    

    Results are available on the INE website
    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176794&menu=resultados&idp=1254735573206

    The publication is divided into 2 blocks: Civil and Criminal Matters Each block offers results bu Autonomous Community and Province

  • 10.4Micro-data access
    A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
    

    No microdata files are available to users.

  • 10.5Other

    There is the possibility of requesting customised information from the INE Customer Service Area. For further information check the following link: https://www.ine.es/infoine/?L=1

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    The methodology is available on the INE website:

    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176794&menu=metodologia&idp=1254735573206

    Likewise, this standardised methodological report constitutes a detailed source of information on several of the methodological aspects of the statistics.

    Metadata completeness - rate AC3= 100%

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    Sections 10.6 to 17 of this standardized methodological report contain the different quality aspects associated with these statistics.

• 11Quality management
  • 11.1Quality assurance

    Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

    
    

    In order to guarantee the reliability of the statistics, the possible coverage and content errors that could affect the quality of the information are detected and analysed during the annual processing of the statistics.

    The legal basis on which the statistic is constituted, the obligation to inform the INE entire workload of the Magistrates' Courts with regard to criminal and civil proceedings and internal controls automated computer application designed for the collection of information, help ensure the completeness, coverage and quality of its contents. Nevertheless, checks and annual comparisons are carried out in order to assess its quality lead and, where appropriate, improving available information.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The rate of non-response is 0%. The automated controls built into the electronic questionnaire web have contributed to significantly increase the timely, accurate, complete it facilitated and enabled the consistency of the information recorded.

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    The statistic reveals the activity developed by the Magistrates' Courts and it covers all information needs in this subject.

    The main users of these statistics are :

    - Ministries and other public bodies. (Ministry of Justice and General Council of the Judiciary Branch)

    - Researchers and Universities (Faculties and Departments of Law and Social Sciences).

    - Territorial administrations (Autonomous Communities, municipal councils...)

    - Companies and non-profit institutions. (in particular those related to municipal councils).

    - Individuals

  • 12.2User satisfaction

    The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

    On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

     

    
    

    In the User Satisfaction Survey conducted in 2013, which can be consulted on the website of INE in the category of: 03 Methods and Projects-> Quality and code of good practices,> INE Quality Management> 2.2.Surveys to users-> 1) Survey on user satisfaction 2013 (ESU2013), you can see the valuation of the sector "society "which is framed in this statistical operation, which can orient to the opinion of users on it.

    When drawing up the plan of exploitation, the specific needs of users of statistics of the Magistrates' Courts have been considered, trying to collect all existing typology in the civil and criminal areas of the workload of the Magistrates' Courts.

  • 12.3Completeness

    Even if no european regulations, the Magistrates' Courts Statistics supply requested information in the National Statistical Plan.

    
    Therefore, the Data completeness - rate R1= 100%

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    These statistics are exhaustive, therefore there are no sampling errors. With respect to non-sampling errors, the necessary studies and controls are carried out in order to assess them and restrict their magnitude.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    This concept is not applicable for it is an exhaustive research.

    Sampling error - indicators A1= Not applicable.

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    During information processing, non-sampling errors (non response, errors of completion, etc.) are detected and restricted where possible. In any case, the fact that it is compulsory for Courts to notify the INE the information regarding civil and criminal matters implies an additional guarantee of the authenticity and integrity of the data provided. The electronic questionnaire web allows a significant reduction of errors in recording and enables the consistency of the information (consistency of totals and disaggregated).

    Over-coverage - rate A2= 0%

    Common units - proportion A3= Not applicable

    Unit non-response - rate A4= 0%

    Item non-response - rate A5= 0%

    Imputation - rate A7= 0%

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    The results of the statistics are published after 4 months when the reference period of the information has finalised.

    Time lag - first results TP1= Not applicable

    Time lag - final resultsn TP2= 4m

  • 14.2Punctuality

    The dissemination of the results is carried out in accordance with the structural statistics availability calendar that the INE compiles and publishes each year.

    Punctuality - delivery and publication TP3= The calendar is fulfilled

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    The availability of a methodology, a registration source of information and a common processing in the entire geographical scope, guarantees comparability of results between the different Autonomous Communities.

    The comparability with other countries of the European Union poses difficulties, as the judicial organizational structure is different in each country.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The statistic is comparable since year 2007. The comparable number of years in the time series is 12 years. All variables published since 2007 are comparable.

    Length of comparable time series CC2= 12

     

     

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    This statistical information is consistent with population data.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    The internal coherence of the statistics is a consequence of the application of a set of methodological criteria and a detailed analysis of the possible inconsistencies existing among its different variables.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    The estimation of the budgetary credit necessary to finance these statistics, as set out in the 2019 Annual Programme, comes to a total of 71.78 thousand euros

    The citizen is not asked for information but to another institution of the administration, so it is considered that there is no burden on the informant.

• 17Data revision
  • 17.1Data revision - policy

    The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

    This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

    
    

    The disseminated results on these statistics are final.

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    Not applicable data review in practice, since there is no progress nor interim results.

    Average revision rate A6-MAR= Not applicable

    Average revision rate A6-RMAR= Not applicable

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    The source data of these statistics are obtained from the information provided by the Magistrates' Courts about their activity (civil and criminal matters).

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    Data is obtained annually, from the reference year. The file with the recorded information is downloaded from the web application of Magistrates' Courts in the first half of calendar year, in t+1.

  • 18.3Data collection

    For the data collection, the INE has designed a software application web. Magistrates' Courts can complete the questionnaire with this application, using a paper questionnaire or by email.

    The online electronic questionnaire includes automatic filtering controls in order to avoid potential inconsistencies.

  • 18.4Data validation

    Once the record file is downloaded, a control process is carried out to ascertain the coverage of the information and its contents are analysed, with the objective of detecting possible inconsistencies.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    Once validity of the received file is verified, its coverage is analysed, and the potential inconsistencias and other content errors are investigated, we obtain the first result tables. Before its dissemination, we analyse the aggregate information in order to detect potential errors or inconsistenciest that had not been corrected in previous stages.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    No adjustment is made.

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment

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