Abstention and recusation are two sides of the same coin, one configured as a duty and the other as a right. The judge has the obligation to abstain when there is a legal reason to do so. In the event that the judge does not fulfill his duty, the right to challenge him arises. This is what is stated exhaustively in Article 217 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ): “Judges and magistrates must abstain and, failing that, may be challenged when there is a legal reason.”
The concurrence of the legal cause is the decisive question. Without a legal reason, the judge or magistrate cannot abstain. For a legal reason, you have a duty to do so. What applies to abstention also applies to recusation. The legal causes of abstention and recusation are therefore the same. They appear in article 219 LOPJ.
