Causes of a Growing Judicial Litigation: Empirical Analysis of a Case

In Spain, judicial litigation has grown considerably since 1959 to 1987, both in absolute and relative dimensions. This trend is especially accentuated in the criminal and in the contentious-administrative jurisdictional areas. By applying an interdisciplinary (economic, juridical, sociological political …) approach, the characteristics of this phenomenon are summarized in this paper, and their numerous and complex causes are analysed. Some of these causes can be considered socially positive, as they seem connected with a greater economic and social development in the country that allows citizens to appeal more frequently and directly to justice courts; but others show a worsening in the social relationship due to old and new serious problems which are present now in the Spanish society. By means of econometric techniques, two pioneering basic models are selected, showing general litigation as a function of time and two other variables (cultural change and “per capita†G.D.P.), respectively. A theoretical model is also offered to try to estimate in future the influence of absolute and relative poverty on criminal litigation. Such models can be adapted, applied, and improved for other developing countries in order to compare similar problems and to find common solutions to prevent the causes and to face the consequences of a growing judicial litigation.