Ecuador
Civil law
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Ecuador is a civil-law country with a Constitution of 2008 that gives broad rights and was the first in the world to recognise rights of nature. Its private law rests on the Civil Code written by Andrés Bello of Chile.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Where the law comes from
- The Constitution of 2008, the highest law
- Codes and statutes, such as the Civil Code (based on Chile's Bello code), and a new Integral Criminal Code
- International human-rights treaties, which have high rank
- Decisions of the Constitutional Court, which are binding
The main courts
- The Constitutional Court, which reviews laws and protects rights
- The National Court of Justice, the top court for ordinary cases
- Provincial courts and first-instance courts
Becoming a lawyer
A law degree, then registration of the title with the judicial authorities.
What may surprise you
- The Constitution recognises that nature itself has rights, which anyone can defend in court.
- The Constitution recognises indigenous justice in indigenous territories.
- A rights-protection action (acción de protección) lets people go quickly to a judge for violations of constitutional rights.
- The Civil Code is largely the Chilean code of Andrés Bello.
Related systems
How this country is classified
The University of Ottawa’s JuriGlobe database lists Ecuador as: Civil law. It names the systems in order of importance.
The map colours a country by the first-named system, and shows both civil-law and common-law countries as “mixed”. It is a simplification, and real systems are rarely pure.
Other countries in the same family
Sources
Sources last reviewed: October 2026.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s Legal Families Atlas is an educational overview. It simplifies on purpose, and it is not legal advice. For a real legal question about Ecuador, consult a lawyer qualified there. Report a mistake.
