Therefore, the most serious political and terrorist crimes were dealt with by the military courts, whose death sentences had to be signed by Franco personally.

The Public Order Court's purpose was to guarantee the stability of the public order as defined by the Francoist State, by punishing within Spanish territory "those crimes whose characteristic was to subvert the basic principles of the state or to wreak havoc in the national conscience".

[2] Some of the high-profile cases handled by the Tribunal de Orden Público during Franco's rule include the Caso Montenegro in 1964, following a string of explosions in Madrid,[3] and the Proceso 1001 in 1973, in which the leaders of the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) trade union were imprisoned.

[4] The Public Order Tribunal ceased operations by Royal Decree in 1977, two years after Franco's death.

The Audiencia Nacional, one of the bodies established during the Spanish transition to democracy was created the same day in order to take charge of certain non-political crimes considered nationwide like terrorism.