Colombia s Judiciary

Composition of the Judicial Branch

la Corte Suprema ( the Supreme Court)

el Consejo del Estado (Council of State)
la Corte Constitucional( Constitutional Court)
el Consejo Superior de la Judicatura( Higher Council of the
Judiciary)
el Fiscalia General de la Nacin (Prosecutor General)
los Tribunals (Tribunals)

Supreme Court

organized into three chambers dealing with civil, criminal, labor appeals .
(7 judges for civil chamber, 7 judges for labor chamber, 9 judges for Penal
Chamber)

Senate and House of Rep. each appoints one half of the twenty-four member
supreme Court from a list of nominees submitted by the President through the
Consejo Superior de la Judicatura ( Superior Council of Judicature).

Shall sit for eight years and cannot be re-appointed.

The SC selects the members of the district superior courts, who in turn selects
magistrates for the lesser judicial positions in their districts. District magistrates
serve five-year terms and may be reappointed indefinetly.

Congress may remove from office a judge considered to be unfit because of

conduct or age.

Colombias SC reviews neither administrative nor constitutional controversies.

Such matters become the jurisdiction of the Administrative high court and the
Constitutional Court, respectively

May settle disputes of jurisdiction between military and ordinary courts.

Ensure consistency of the judicial decision by nullifying laws promulgated in

violation of legal procedure.

The SC rejects a petition if the lower court has decided the point of law correctly.
If the Court decides that the lower court made an error of law, it will quash its
decision and send the dispute back to a Court of Rehearing.

Once in the Court of Rehearing, jurisdiction of adjudication rests in the COR. If

The COR decides to adopt the Court of Cassations point of view, then the
litigation ends and its decision is final.

If COR refuses to follow the Court of Cassation, a new petition to the Court of
Cassation can be taken. In this case, the full Court of Cassation has jurisdiction. If
the full court quashes the second petition, it sends the case back to a Court of
Rehearing. Only then must the Court of Rehearing yield to the Court of
Cassation.

If the same issue is raised in any other court, the Courts decision is only
doctrinal probable and never obligatory.

Has the power to judge high public officials such as President, Minister,
Prosecutor General and others. (Art. 235 [2])

Council of States

Acts as an advisory board to the President by drafting bills and codes concerned
with administration.

Acts as supreme administrative tribunal, presiding over a hierarchy of courts

that hears complaints against the government and public officials

Council of State is given equal rank with the Supreme Court

Half of the Council of States ten members are biannually elected for 4 years
terms.

Chosen by the incumbent members of the Court from a list submitted by the
Council of the Judicature

Beneath the Council of State are the territorial tribunals of each department and
tribunales administrativos exercise original jurisdiction.

Tribunales administrativos de apelacion are appellate courts

Dennis M. Hanratty and Sandra W. Meditz, editors. Colombia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO
for the Library of Congress, 1988.
Constitutional Court

Create a Constitutional Court to handle all matters of constitutional jurisdiction.

Accepts all petitions involving constitutional question

Rule on Ordinary Laws and all executive decrees issued by the President.

Each branch elects one-third of the members of the Court

Senate appoints the justices from a list of three members chosen by the President,
Supreme Court and Council of State. Each appointment lasts for eight years.

Remedies available to people before the Constitutional Court

Accin de Tutela (Amparo)

when a person seeks for the immediate protection of his or fundamental
right whenever they are threatened or endangered by acts or omissions of a
public authority.

Accin Popular
when a person, regardless of standing or stake, bring an action directly
challenging a law or decree.

Superior Council of the Judiciary

Highest Disciplinary body of the judicial branch an serves as an Ethics Tribunal

for Judges and lawyers alike.

The Attorney Generals Office

( Fiscala General de la Nacin ) is an independent institution that investigates and

prosecutes criminal conduct both of private individuals and public officials (with
some exceptions for high public officials). Together with the Inspector General
and the Comptroller General, the Attorney General is frequently called upon to
opine on public matters and warn of potential illegal conduct. See Const., arts.
249-253

The Office of the Inspector General

( Procuradura General de la Nacin ): safeguards the administrations compliance
with the Constitution and applicable laws. The Inspector General frequently
warns of possible violations, intervenes in judicial process and investigates and
determines disciplinary liability by public officials. Liability findings take
different forms including the suspension or dismissal of the officials but the
decisions may annulled by the administrative courts. A number of municipal
ombudsmen ( personeros municipales ) exercise local jurisdiction. Together with
the National Ombudsman Office ( Defensora del Pueblo ), and the local
ombudsmen, the Inspector General endeavors to promote and protect human
rights

Source: http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Colombia1.html#IC

Military Courts

Jurisdiction over person charge with crimes against national security, illegal
possession of fire arms and drug trafficking.

Prosecute crimes involving military personnel but civil courts may investigate
military personnel.

Ordinary Courts
Cases involving crimes committed beyond the scope of military service.

Conclusions

1. The separation and distribution of governmental power in Colombia

established a judiciary subservient to the role of the legislative and
executive.
 2. No control whatsoever by the judiciary was allowed over the actions of
the other governmental entities while both legislators/public
administrators and the executive branch did have their own internal
control. As such there was a rigid anti-judicial review attitude.
3. Colombias notion of separation of powers established the supremacy of
the law as proclaimed by the legislative bodies and the job of judges in a
supporting role was only to articulate and assiduously apply such law.
4. Judges merely apply laws and decrees passed by the Congress and the
President.
5. A case decided by the courts does not become a binding precedent for
later cases, whereby later cases do not consider prior cases, but rather the
laws duly enacted by the political branches. The doctrine of stare decisis
does not apply in Colombia.

Legal Education and Profession

Colombian students enroll In a law school immediately after finishing their

secondary education.

Law is normally taught in full-time day course. The average length of the courses
were 5 years. Night law schools offer a seven-year degree program in law.

88 hours per week, 17 hours of which is devoted to seminars, workshops and

legal clinics.

The parallel courses in political economy, sociology and philosophy are designed to give the student a
sense of the relationship between the philosophical foundations of Western society and the legal order.

Legal Education is often associated with the elites as the costs for such education
is expensive. Tainted with much conservatism as legal education is often offered
by Catholic schools.

In order to practice, lawyers must register with the governments National

Lawyers registry and must carry a professional ID card issued by the Ministry of
Justice when appearing in court.

No existing bar association regulating the practice

http://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2170&context=u
mialr

Lynch, Dennis O.; Legal Roles in Colombia

Legal Profession

Lawyers are there in Courts, Government in Private and Semi-public

Corporation