The cultural defence in Spain

This study on legal anthropology presents an overview of the cultural defence in the Spanish legal system. Since there is not a particular law specifically recognising cultural defence as a legal concept, we have focused our research on judicial decisions. In particular, we have approached two different groups of cases. On the one hand, we have analysed cases that are overtly cultural, most of them dealing with Romani people (hard cases). On the other hand, we have analysed cases of squatting in which cultural claims are implicit in spite of the subcultural dimension of the movement (soft cases). Although this research does not pretend to be exhaustive, we can draw relevant conclusions from the contrast between these two types of cases. In particular, it appears that there is a lack of appropriate legal instruments in order to frame cultural claims in courts, what seems to be part a general reluctance on the Spanish legal system to confront cultural problems.