366 / 432
R. EMERJ, Rio de Janeiro, v. 20, n. 79, p. 348 - 376, Maio/Agosto 2017
366
V. Retroactivity and Punitive Damages in Ecuador
and Latin America
A. For Starters
Mostly, the civil law proscribes applying enactments retroactively
and awarding punitive damages. It does so somewhat differently from
one country to the next. Nevertheless, these prohibitions operate
relatively uniformly throughout.
B. Retroactive Application of Laws: Point and Counterpoint
The bar on retroactivity plays a central role in Latin American
civil law. It prohibits the retroactive application of legislation.
Accordingly, courts may not rely on an enactment passed after the
facts of the complaint occurred.
The Ecuadorian Civil Code, like many others in the civil-law universe,
proclaims that laws “shall have no retroactive effect.”
84
It thus disallows
reliance on a statute in order to challenge conduct that took place earlier.
Defendants thus receive protection against having to face liability based on
norms that did not hold when they undertook the challenged actions.
Nonetheless, Rule 20(a) of Article 7 carves out a unique exception.
It declares, in essence, that purely procedural legislation may become valid
immediately.
85
The provision reads: “Laws that concern the substantiation
and the solemnities of lawsuits shall prevail over prior laws from the
moment in which they enter into effect.”
86
Article 163(2) of Ecuador’s
Organic Judicial Code contains almost identical language.
87
Of course, a judge may not merely state that an enactment amounts
to procedure, rather than substance, in order to apply it. Nor may she focus
on its adjective to the exclusion of its substantive components to the same
end. If the judiciary had the authority to label, at will, any statute as purely
84
See
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Ecuad.) (2005), art. 7;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Ecuad.) (1970), art. 7 (“no tiene efecto retroactivo”).
See also
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Arg.)
(2016), art. 7;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Chile) (1857), art. 2;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(D.R.) (1826), art. 2;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Ecuad.) (2005), art. 7;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(El Salv.)
(1859), art. 9;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Fr.) (1804), art. 2;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Hond.) (1906), art. 7;
C
d
. C
iv
. F
ed
. (Mex.) (1928), art. 5;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Para.)
(1985), art. 2;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(P.R.) (1930), art. 3;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Uru.) (1868), art. 7;
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Venez.) (1982), art. 3. Sometimes, Latin
American constitutions, like their U.S. counterpart, embody the same restriction.
See, e.g.,
C
onst
. (Mex.) (1917), art. 14.
85
See
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Ecuad.) (2005), art. 7(20(a));
C
d
. C
iv
.
(Ecuad.) (1970), art. 7(20a).
86
Id.
(“Las leyes concernientes a la sustanciación y ritualidad de los juicios, prevalecen sobre las anteriores desde el mo-
mento en que deban comenzar a regir.”).
87
C
d
. O
rg
. J
ud
. (2009), art. 163(2) (“Sin embargo, las leyes concernientes a la sustanciación y ritualidad de los juicios,
prevalecen sobre las anteriores desde el momento en que deben comenzar a regir.”).