The rights to a hearing and to a lawful judge in the spanish constitutional system

Right to Audience and Right to a Lawful Judge are presumed to be two of the most important guaranties for the rule of law. Both liberties are established in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 as “fundamental rights”, and they are included as a part of a most generic right: the right to due process of law. Along this text, I will try to show its content and significance, according to the sentences of the Spanish “Tribunal Constitucional”, passed through more than 25 years.

Dos de las garantías procesales más importantes de un Estado de derecho son el derecho de audiencia y el derecho a un juez predeterminado por la ley. Ambas figuras aparecen reconocidas en la Constitución española de 1978 con el rango de derecho fundamental, incluidas en el derecho más genérico a la tutela judicial efectiva. A lo largo de este artículo pretendo mostrar el significado que la jurisprudencia constitucional les ha dado a lo largo de más de 25 años.