Implicit reversal of the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court's jurisprudential line: payment of professional fees

Abstract

This paper analyzes the figure of the implicit reversal of jurisprudence issued by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, focusing on the analysis of Judgment 784-17-EP/23 regarding the payment of professional fees. To this end, the legal nature of precedents in Ecuador is examined, contrasting their regulation in ordinary and constitutional justice, which leads to examining the concept of reversal or also known as overruling. For this study, the scientific method was used, the type of research employed was qualitative because it is based on the analysis of documents, observation and interpretation. The information obtained made it possible to establish that the requirements of the implicit reversal in the constitutional sphere are: (i) the contradiction of the precedent in subsequent decisions and (ii) the consolidation of the new jurisprudential line duly demonstrated and grounded in future decisions. It is concluded then that, through the analyzed ruling, the Constitutional Court established parameters that configured the implicit reversal regarding the lawsuit for the collection of professional fees of lawyers, affirming the regulations in force at the time that establish it as a single-instance process which guaranteed that legal certainty is not violated.