Discrepancy between court jurisdiction and governing law: how do Spanish courts solve the problem?

How do Spanish courts solve this problem?

In an ordinary case, the parties have to provide evidence concerning the facts of the dispute. They also argue about the points of law, but there is no need to provide evidence on the latter since the court obviously has direct knowledge of the law.

However, when the governing law is that of another country, since the court has no direct knowledge of the law the parties have to provide evidence not only about the facts of the case but also about the contents of the foreign governing law.

Therefore, parties have to provide evidence concerning the existence and contents of applicable acts and regulations, but also evidence concerning relevant case-Law.

Any means of evidence are admissible. However, expert’s reports is the most commonly used system. The expert has to be somebody with a good knowledge of the governing law (normally a lawyer from the country where the law comes from). He/she will draft a written report summarizing the key points of law to be considered in order to solve the case and analysing them in accordance with the applicable law. At a later stage of the proceedings, the expert could also testify in court in order to provide further information or to explain the report and answer questions related to its contents.

At the end of the proceeding, the court has to render a judgment based on the foreign applicable law.

There is, however, an exception: if the content of the foreign law is not duly proved, the court will solve the matter in accordance with the contents of Spanish law.

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