Procedures
Written civil procedure pending reform, with oral family and labour courts
Ordinary civil litigation still follows the 1903 Código de Procedimiento Civil, a written and largely document-based process, and a long-discussed replacement has not been enacted. By contrast, family, labour and criminal procedure were reformed to oral hearings. The recurso de protección offers a fast constitutional route where a listed right is affected.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National procedural codes applied by the ordinary courts
- Deadline — Answer in ordinary proceedings: 15 days plus extensions by distance
- Deadline — Appeal: five days for most interlocutory rulings, 10 days for judgments
- Deadline — Recurso de protección: 30 days
Governing law
- Código de Procedimiento Civil1903
- Ley 19.968 - Tribunales de Familia
- Auto Acordado on the recurso de protección
In practice
The contrast between reformed oral procedure in criminal, labour and family matters and unreformed written civil procedure is the central fact about Chilean litigation today, and explains why ordinary civil cases take substantially longer. The recurso de protección is heard directly by a Court of Appeals with a very short deadline, and has become the practical vehicle for many disputes that would elsewhere be ordinary administrative claims.