Judge Matthew Nicklin declared this Tuesday in London the equivalent of ‘seen for sentence’ in relation to the absolute immunity of Juan Carlos I before the civil lawsuit of his ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein after hearing the arguments of the two parties during two hearings.
Legal sources consulted indicate that taking into account the knowledge acquired by the judge during these months of study of the written arguments, presented in the oral hearing of this Monday and Tuesday, a resolution is expected in January.
Although it would seem at first glance that the option is reduced to admit or deny immunity, which will determine whether the lawsuit follows its course, is instructed and ends in trial, or not, there would be other alternatives.
One of them is to recognize Juan Carlos l sovereign immunity and of jurisdiction until his abdication in June 2014 for having been Head of State (which is known as immunity ‘ratione personae’) and was denied from that date for having lost that status.
In this last option, it would still be necessary to determine if it would keep immunity for acts prior to abdication if they are considered acts in the exercise of their official function (or ‘immunity ratione materiae’.) In the latter circumstance the lawsuit could go ahead, although some of their accusations would have to be eliminated.
Member of the Royal Family
Juan Carlos I’s lawyer, Daniel Bethlehem, highlighted by the Clifford Chance law firm, has maintained that apart from his immunity from Head of State, “His Majesty [el rey emérito] You are immune from the jurisdiction of the English courts for your conduct after June 19, 2014 [abdicación] because he is a member of the King’s family [Felipe VI] forming part of your house and / or a sovereign & rdquor ;.
In the debate with his opponent, attorney james lewis, Juan Carlos I’s lawyer appeals, in his argument, to the Oxford English Dictionary, according to which ‘household’ (house, family) are “the inhabitants of a house considered collectively, who live together as a unit, who have a particular bond, even if they are temporarily separated & rdquor ;. The lawyer points out that the “dependency & rdquor; should be taken in social terms and not strictly financial, because a relative can be “dependent & rdquor; while you have a private income.
According to Bethlehem “it is evident that His Majesty is a member of the family of King Felipe VI forming part of his house and therefore has the right to immunity, he is a member of the reduced Royal Family, which is currently made up of King Felipe VI, Queen Leticia [sic] and his two sisters & mldr; The Spanish State pays their security costs up to the present & mldr; he is entitled to use the title of King, to be addressed as His Majesty and to receive military honors & rdquor ;.
The defense of Juan Carlos I works, therefore, with the idea of showing that his client is part of the Casa de Su Majestad el Rey institution, equivalent, for example, to the Royal Households of the United Kingdom.
But Judge Nicklin has already expressed on Monday that it would be appreciated if Spain explains the status of Juan Carlos I to the court.
Will the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs of the Pedro Sánchez government be taken for granted?
James Lewis, already in his writing, warned of the attempt to allude with the use of the word ‘household’ to the English monarchical institution.
Felipe VI, estranged
“In any case, Spanish law and practice do not support Juan Carlos I. Although he is a member of the King Felipe family and holds the title of King Emeritus, the defendant, from the legal point of view, has lost his benefit of inviolability and has withdrawn from public life & mldr; Significantly, King Felipe VI has publicly distanced himself from Juan Carlos I, who has stopped receiving his allowance & rdquor ;, Lewis points out. “Even on their own arguments they don’t meet their own test: Juan Carlos is independent from a financial point of view, he does not live with King Felipe VI & mldr; & rdquor ;.
Look where, Juan Carlos I follow from Abu Dhabi by his lawyers all the arguments, which have been at his disposal for months. And yesterday, after the first hearing, he has leaked that he wants to return to Spain.
It’s more; has specified that wants to live in the Palacio de la Zarzuela and recover its allocation of almost 200,000 euros per year, which the House of His Majesty the King has now reassigned for other concepts.
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In a way, Juan Carlos I has accepted, with these leaks, the assertions of James Lewis and his colleagues in the hearings on Monday and Tuesday, in the sense that he is not part of the House of His Majesty the King for rather that his lawyers try to use that argument to justify the post-abdication immunity argument, in his capacity as “sovereign”. According to Lewis, precisely, “Sovereign & rdquor; there is only one: Felipe VI.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com