Judicial criteria for the admissibility of preliminary exceptions: lack of jurisdiction of the judge, standing in the cause, and res judicata

Abstract

In Ecuador, preliminary exceptions are conceived within the normative, doctrinal, and jurisprudential framework as mechanisms for early screening and purification of civil proceedings. Their purpose is to verify the judge’s jurisdiction, the standing of the parties, and the absence of res judicata before addressing the merits of the case, among other exceptions provided for in Article 153 of the COGEP. This article particularly analyzes the exceptions of judicial incompetence, lack of standing, and res judicata, based on their regulation in the COGEP and the criteria established by the National Court of Justice, while also incorporating contributions from contemporary procedural doctrine. Accordingly, the study systematizes the main judicial standards regarding their applicability—such as the requirement of timeliness in their submission, sufficient reasoning in judicial decisions, the distinction between absolute and relative incompetence, and the subjective and objective identity requirements for the formation of material res judicata. Consequently, based on this reconstruction, it proposes a rights-based and functional interpretation of preliminary exceptions that avoids their merely dilatory use and strengthens them as instruments for safeguarding legal certainty, the natural judge, and effective judicial protection within the constitutional state of rights.