The Judge System

In the common law, judges are selected in a different way from the one that we have in Costa Rica, or the continental system. Meantime in the continental system, they are chosen or hired because they were working at the Judicial Power or they had to supplant another judge, opposite to the common law, where judges are chosen according to their experience, their mayors and even if the community where he is going to rule, agree with him or how many cases has she or he resolved. Also they consider the judges ideology, what are their principles, values and the way they take decisions.

As a matter of fact, Common law judges have the power to create jurisprudence, to create a criterion that is going to be used later on by other judges to solve similar cases. In the continental law, judges are not able to do it, they need to stick to the laws, and to one and only interpretation, in this case, in Costa Rica, this interpretation will be given by the “Sala Constitucional” whose  decisions are accepted and by all the country and are not discussed, and it could be used to solve another cases, but besides this institution, there is no other judges or jury where they can interpret the law by its own criteria.

On the same way, also at the hearings from the Common Law, there is a jury who decide over the fact, but the judges are the ones in charged for giving orders about interpreting the laws. In continental system, there is no participatory jury, there is some people at the hearing, but they are not able to participate and give their opinions about the case, they only can go and hear about it, but it is not in all the subjects, for example a regular person can go to any hearing about criminal law but about labor law, there are only present the lawyers, the actors and the judge.