The legal nature of courtroom discipline: A dual administrative and procedural dimension

Abstract

Objectives: In contrast to the doctrine that attributes an exclusively jurisdictional nature to policía de estrados (courtroom discipline), this paper aims to determine whether this power admits a dual legal nature –administrative and procedural– and to clarify the criterion that distinguishes both dimensions. Methodology: A dogmatic-legal method is followed, based on a critical analysis of recent constitutional case law (Constitutional Court Judgments 12/2025, 13/2025, and 84/2025) and on a comparison with analogous institutions, such as the rules governing the distribution of judicial cases and parliamentary police powers. Results: It is found that policía de estrados presents a dual dimension: a jurisdictional one, purely procedural, subject to the rules of the judicial process itself, and a sanctioning one, closely related to public order and formalities, subject to the rules and principles of administrative law, as a materially administrative activity that originates from the Judiciary and can be reviewed by the administrative courts. The distinguishing criterion lies in the legal interest protected: procedural good faith, broadly understood, in the first case; due order, decorum, and respect in the proceedings, in the second. Conclusions: The paper argues for the need to recognize the materially administrative nature of the sanctioning dimension of policía de estrados, which would allow it to be reviewed by the administrative courts, contrary to the position maintained thus far by the Constitutional Court.