o the courts, which shall
exercise no other functions than those of judging and of enforcing
their judgments."[865] What courts shall be established, the
organization of each, its powers, the manner of exercising them, and
the qualifications which its members must possess, are left to be
determined by law. The civil hierarchy to-day comprises tribunals of
four grades: the municipal courts, the courts of first instance, the
courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court at Madrid. The justices of the
peace of the municipal courts are charged with the registration of
births and deaths, the preparation of voting lists, the performance of
civil marriage, and the hearing of petty cases to the end that
conciliation, if possible, may be effected between the litigants. No
civil case may be brought in any higher court until effort shall have
been made to adjust it in a justice's tribunal. In each of the 495
_partidos judiciales_, or judicial districts, of the kingdom is a
court of first instance, empowered to take cognizance of all causes,
both civil and criminal. From these tribunals lies appeal in civil
cases to fifteen _audiencias territoriales_. By a law of April 20,
1888--the measure by which was introduced the use of the jury in (p. 627)
the majority of criminal causes--there were established forty-seven
_audiencias criminales_, one in each province of the kingdom, and
these have become virtually courts of assize, their sessions being
held four times a year. Finally, at Madrid is established a Supreme
Court, modelled on the French Court of Cassation, whose function it is
to decide questions relating to the competence of the inferior
tribunals and to rule on points of law when appeals are carried from
these tribunals. Cases involving matters of administrative law,
decided formerly by the provincial councils and the Council of State,
are disposed of now in the _audiencias_ and in the fourth chamber of
the Supreme Court.[866]

[Footnote 865: Art. 76. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
II., 213.]

[Footnote 866: G. Marin, La jurisdiction
contentieuse administrative en Espagne, in _Revue
du Droit Public_, Oct.-Dec., 1906.]

Justice is administered in the name of the king. All judgments must be
pronounced in open court, and by the constitution it is guaranteed
specifically that proceedings in criminal matters shall be public. In
every tribunal