El error de la responsabilidad patrimonial del Estado por error judicial

Abstract

It is not obvious at all whether the State should compensate victims of erroneous judicial decisions. In Spain (and other many countries), individuals are entitled to compensation for the time spent in prison or in custody as a consequence of wrongful conviction or wrongful detention. Individuals can also seek damages before certain international courts for the harm suffered as a result of certain breaches of the law committed by national courts. And under a few legal systems (such as the Spanish one and that of the European Union) the State is liable for the harm caused by last instance judicial decisions which are manifestly illegal. The present paper analyzes whether and under which circumstances is socially desirable to make Government pay damages for the harm caused by judicial errors, and concludes that such compensation might be eventually effi cient in both criminal and international cases, but not in civil disputes where the error at issue may eventually be corrected by national courts.