Contradicción, imparcialidad e inmediación en la ley de enjuiciamiento civil española. algunos problemas para la consolidación de estos principios en la práctica

Abstract

This text is the final study conducted by the author for the Master's Degree in Legal Sciences at Barcelona's Universidad Pompeu Fabra en Barcelona. This text has been amended by the author for publishing purposes. In it, he develops an analysis of Civil Procedure Act (CPA) based on the observation of hearings, a series of interviews and a study of doctrine and case law designed to allow him to verify the use of the principles of oral procedures, contradiction, impartiality and immediacy laid out by the law. This study offers a brief description of the current state of the Spanish civil justice system and the main hearings set out in the CPA for declarative procedures. The author then describes and develops a series of problems that have emerged in practice based on specific CPA regulations and oral litigation techniques. In view of the influence that the CPA has had on Chile's civil justice reform, the author offers a brief review of the country's 2009 Civil Procedure Code project, noting how it overcomes some of the problems observed in the CPA while presenting others which, in the author's opinion, could influence the implementation and development of the civil procedure reform in Chile. Finally, the study includes specific proposals for correcting problems observed with the CPA. As the author notes, the purpose of this publication is to contribute to the discussion of civil procedure reform, noting the importance of both good and bad experiences presented in other oral procedure systems, including Chile's criminal procedure reform, given the distance that may sometimes lie between theory and practice.