ABSTRACT
In the Spanish ordinary jurisdiction there are five types of courts, namely: civil, criminal, labour, administrative and military. The Spanish constitution confers on everybody a general right to obtain effective judicial protection. The style of opinions in all the Spanish courts is deductive rather than discursive. In the cultural framework of the Spanish legal mind, the fundamental principle, ratified on many occasions by the Constitutional Court, is that 'the judge is bound by law and not by precedent'. In the Spanish legal system a very important distinction can be made between constitutional matters and the other types of adjudication. All Spanish courts are reluctant to recognize they are creating a new rule when they fill a statutory gap. In the Spanish legal system, there are some judicial decisions that have some sort of formal bindingness as precedents. The relevant factors for the formal bindingness of precedents are in Spain the hierarchical rank of the court.
