Court of Public Order

Tribunal de Orden Público
The Convent of the Salesas Reales, headquarters of the Public Order Court
40°25′28.3″N 3°41′37.94″W / 40.424528°N 3.6938722°W / 40.424528; -3.6938722
Established	December 1963 to January 1977
Location	Madrid
Coordinates	40°25′28.3″N 3°41′37.94″W / 40.424528°N 3.6938722°W / 40.424528; -3.6938722

The Court of Public Order (Spanish: Tribunal de Orden Público) was a court created in Francoist Spain to deal with most political crimes.^[1] It was instated as the supreme body in the newly created Public Order Jurisdiction, which also comprised an additional court, the Public Order Examination Court. This jurisdiction was considered an additional branch of the ordinary judiciary (thereby it was not considered to be special or exceptional by legal standards), together with the criminal, civil, administrative and social jurisdictions. It was not part of the military courts system. Nonetheless, the Court and its jurisdiction were always considered to be a special court.

Similar to the German People's Court in its goals, the court allowed for a rather fair process, leading on many occasions to the acquittal of the convict. Despite being considered a politically-oriented, biased court, the members of the court were all senior judges, many of them not members of the official party, and their decisions were made according to the then existing Laws. There were instances, however, where many arbitrary decisions were taken.^[2]

It was established in December 1963, following Julián Grimau's execution by firing squad, replacing the Tribunal Especial para la Represión de la Masonería y el Comunismo. It was based in the Convent of the Salesas Reales in Madrid.

Though its main goal was to repress political crimes in Spain, the Court could not issue death penalties, as these could only be issued by military courts. Therefore, the most serious political and terrorist crimes were dealt with by the military courts, whose death sentences had to be signed by Franco personally.