Ecuador Legal System

Ecuador

Ecuador, a long standing country located in the northern part of South America, has a rich history related to the development of its legal system. Beginning with its independence from Spain and becoming part of Greater Columbia to current President Rafael Correa's rewriting of the constitution, Ecuador has been through a multitude of change with its legal system (Infoplease pg. 1-3). Ecuador has been able to overcome many challenges it has faced while trying to establish itself as a stable economic country including its dealings with the oil industry as well as its adoption of the US dollar as its national currency (BBC pg. 1). While Ecuador has overcome many challenges, there is still a long way to go before they have a strong sense of economic stability.

According to CIA.gov, "Ecuador's legal system is civil law based on the Chilean civil code with modifications." This means Ecuador uses a system unlike the one that's in place in the U.S. which is based on common law. The origins of Ecuador's legal system begin when they were a colony in the Spanish empire (Infoplease pg. 1). Spain's legal system is also based on civil law so it's understandable that Ecuador would base their own legal system on the same system that they were following before they became independent (CIA pg. 1). Currently, Ecuador does not operate under any other legal system besides its own.

With the legal system in place, Ecuador has many unique features. One of these is the adoption of the U.S. dollar as a currency in 2007 (CIA pg. 1). According to CIA.gov, "Ecuador adopted the dollar as a legal tender to deal with the collapse of the banking system and a severe economic crisis. The adoption of dollarization stabilized the economy and has remained in place since." Another unique characteristic is that Ecuador has recently adopted a new constitution as of 2007 (Infoplease