El foment i l’oferta activa de la llengua catalana enfront de la precarietat de l’ús de les llengües cooficials a l’Administració de justícia

Abstract

According to the multilingual model set out by the Constitution, the declaration of official status of a language implies its recognition by all public authorities as a means of communication between them and the citizens. However, the official use of Catalan in the courts presents specific challenges, largely due to the unitary and centralized configuration of the Judiciary, as well as to the Constitutional Court’s restrictive interpretation of linguistic regulation in the field of justice administration. There are structural causes that affect the precarity of the use of co-official languages in the Judiciary. These include the reticence of the members of the Judiciary, the fact that most legal training at universities in Catalan-speaking areas takes place in Spanish, and the lack of regulatory texts or legal terminology in Catalan. This study presents the initiative of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands to promote the use of Catalan in the judicial arena. Despite the fact that this scheme is still in its infancy, this is a good opportunity to significantly improve language rights, as well as to change the mindset of member of the Judiciary.