Secretary of State for Justice (Spain)

The Secretary of State for Justice (SEJUS) is the second-in-command to the Spanish Minister of Justice. The Secretary of State is appointed by the Monarch at the request of the Justice Minister and after hearing the Council of Ministers.

Not to be confused with the Secretary of State for Justice, the head of the Ministry of Justice of the United Kingdom.
Secretary of State for Justice
Secretario de Estado de Justicia
Coat of Arms used by the Government
Incumbent
Pablo Zapatero Miguel
since January 30, 2020
Ministry of Justice
Secretariat of State for Justice
StyleThe Most Excellent (formal)
Mrs. Secretary of State (informal)
AbbreviationSEJUS
Reports toJustice Minister
NominatorJustice Minister
AppointerMonarch
FormationMay 13, 1994
First holderMaría Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Websitemjusticia.gob.es

The SEJUS is responsible for coordinating and collaborating with the justice administration of the Autonomous Communities; organizing, planning, supporting and cooperating with the Administration of Justice and with the Prosecution Ministry; establishing international legal cooperation and relations with international organizations and the European Union; promoting human rights; directing and managing those responsibilities regarding marital status and nationality, notaries, public faith, and civil register; as well as those related to the location, recovery, management and sale of objects, goods, instruments and profits from criminal activities.[1]

Likewise, it is the responsibility of the Secretary of State to promote and elaborate the regulatory projects on matters within its competence and those entrusted by the head of the department, without prejudice to the attributions corresponding to the Ministry's Under-Secretary and the Technical Secretary-General.[1]

History

The Office of Secretary of State for Justice was created on 13 May 1994, when the ministries of Justice and the Interior were merged.[2] From the Secretary of State depended as its highest department the General Secretariat for Justice and this, in turn, had as its superior body a Directorate-General for the judicial infrastructure. Apart from the General Secretariat, it had other departments as the Directorate-General for Registries and Notaries, the Directorate-General of the State Legal Service (current Solicitor General), the Directorate-General for Conscientious Objection and the Directorate-General for Codification and International Legal Cooperation, as well as a cabinet for religious affairs.[3]

As of 1996, the restored Directorate-General for Relations with the Administration of Justice was integrated into it and the cabinet of religious affairs was elevated to the rank of directorate-general. Likewise, the General Secretariat of Justice was abolished and the Judicial Studies Center and the Judicial General Mutuality were assigned to the Secretariat of State for Justice.[4] The structure of the department was not touched again until 2001, when the Directorate-General for the Modernization of the Administration of Justice was created in its midst.[5]

Except for certain changes between its directorates-general, its structure was not modified until 2008, in which the General Secretariat for Modernization and Relations with the Administration of Justice (current SGAJ) was created as an intermediate body between the Secretary of State and some of its addresses general.[6]

In 2010, it underwent its most relevant modification and is still preserved today. The Solicitor General and the Directorate General of Registries and Notaries were directly attached to the Minister and the Secretary of State assumed the competences over international legal cooperation.[7] In 2015, the Office of Asset Recovery and Management (ORGA) was created and assigned to the Secretary of State. As of 2018, the powers of the ORGA are assumed by the Secretary-General for the Administration of Justice (SGAJ).

In 2020, the new justice minister, Juan Carlos Campo, renamed all the Ministry's departments. Despite of the name changing of the Secretariat of State's bodies, the responsibilities were the same, with the exception of those relating religious freedom, that were transferred from the Directorate-General for International Legal Cooperation, Relations with Religions and Human Rights to the Undersecretariat of the Presidency, and the legal security and notaries responsibilities, that were transferred from the Undersecretariat of Justice to the Secretariat of State.[1]

Structure

The Secretariat of State is composed of two departments:[1]

  • The General Secretariat for Innovation and Quality of the Public Justice Service.
    The General Secretariat is the department responsible for modernizing the Judiciary and the Prosecution Ministry; maintain relationships with the General Council of the Judiciary, the Prosecution Ministry and other bodies and associations of law experts, managing the goods from criminal activities, and exercising the government responsibilities on public registries and marital status and nationality.
    These functions are exercised through three departments: the Directorate-General for the Public Justice Service, the Directorate-General for Digital Transformation of the Administration of Justice, and the Directorate-General for Legal Security and Public Faith.
  • The Directorate-General for International Legal Cooperation and Human Rights
    It is responsible for the international legal cooperation, the relations with the European Union and other organizations in legal matters and the promotion in the international sphere of human rights.
    For the exercise of this duties it has two departments: the Deputy Directorate-General for International Legal Cooperation and the Deputy Directorate-General for Justice Affairs in the European Union and International Organizations and Human Rights.

Secretaries of State
No. Image Name Term of Office Prime Minister
Began Ended Days of Service
1º María Teresa Fernández de la Vega 4 May 1994 8 May 1996 735 Felipe González
2º José Luis González Montes 11 May 1996 6 May 2000 1456 José María Aznar
3º José María Michavila 6 May 2000 20 July 2002 805
4º Rafael Catalá 27 July 2002 20 April 2004 633
5º Luis López Guerra 20 April 2004 19 February 2007 1035 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
6º Julio Pérez Hernández 19 February 2007 2 March 2009 742
7º Juan Carlos Campo Moreno 2 March 2009 31 December 2011 1034
8º Fernando Román García 31 December 2011 11 Octubre 2014 1015 Mariano Rajoy
9º Carmen Sánchez-Cortés Martín 11 Octubre 2014 19 June 2018 1347
10º Manuel-Jesús Dolz Lago[8] 19 June 2018 30 January 2020 590 Pedro Sánchez
11º Pablo Zapatero Miguel[9] 30 January 2020 Incumbent 192
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References
  1. "Royal Decree 453/2020, of March 10, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Justice is developed". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  2. "Royal Decree 973/1994, of May 13, which creates within the Ministry of Justice and Interior, the Secretariats of State for Justice, for the Interior and the Undersecretariat of Justice and Interior". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  3. "Royal Decree 1334/1994, of June 20, of basic structure, of the Ministry of Justice and Interior". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  4. "Royal Decree 1882/1996, of August 2, of basic organic structure of the Ministry of Justice". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  5. "Royal Decree 1321/2001, of November 30, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Justice is modified and developed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  6. "Royal Decree 1125/2008, of July 4, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Justice is developed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  7. "Royal Decree 1203/2010, of September 24, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Justice is developed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  8. "El fiscal Manuel-Jesús Dolz Lago, nuevo secretario de Estado de Justicia". www.legaltoday.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  9. "Pablo Zapatero Miguel, nuevo secretario de Estado de Justicia". Confilegal (in Spanish). 2020-01-28. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
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