WHAT ARE THE PRELIMINARY DEFENSES

The prior defense, which is the defense that is filed when a procedural requirement has not been complied with, i.e., the law provides that certain
requirements must be previously met without which it is not possible to validly initiate the civil proceeding.
Preliminary defenses are procedural instruments by which the defendant requests the suspension of the process initiated until the plaintiff performs what the
substantive law provides as a preliminary activity to the filing of the lawsuit. Preliminary defenses do not denounce a procedural omission because they do not
rest in the adjective laws but in the substantive order, however, they affect the process, although they do not imply its conclusion but only temporarily avoid its
continuation.
TACHAS AGAINST WITNESSES (Art. 300 CPC)
 To the absolutely incapable.
 A person who has been convicted of a crime that, in the judge's judgment, affects his or her suitability.
 To a relative within the 4th degree of consanguinity or 3rd degree of affinity, spouse, cohabitant, except in the case of family law or as proposed by
the opposing party.
 Anyone having a direct or indirect interest in the outcome of the process.
 To the judge and to the Assistant of justice, the process that they know.
WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE APPLICATION STAGE?
 Propose the claims and defenses.
 Perform the first control of the Procedural Legal Relationship (qualification of the claim).
 To clean up the Procedural Relationship.
 To bring about conciliation between the parties.
 To fix the controversial points.
 To carry out the evidentiary reorganization.
 Pre-judging the process (if possible)

Effects of exceptions
The effects it produces are:
They are intended to defer or delay the criminal proceeding in which they have been opposed, with the purpose of complying with specific legal forms or
requirements.
Article 451.- Effects of exceptions.
Once the order declaring any of the exceptions enumerated in Article 446 has been consented to or executed, the file of exceptions is added to the main file
and produces the following effects:
1. Suspend the proceeding until the incompetent plaintiff appears, legally assisted or represented, within the term to be fixed in the resolution order, in the
case of a plea of incapacity of the plaintiff or his representative.
2. Suspend the proceeding until the defect or insufficiency of representation of the plaintiff is remedied within a term to be fixed in the order of resolution.
3. Suspend the process until the plaintiff corrects the defects indicated in the resolution order and within the term established therein, in the case of the
exception of obscurity or ambiguity in the manner of proposing the claim.
4. Suspend the process until the plaintiff establishes the procedural legal relationship between the persons ordered by the resolution order and within the
term established therein, in the case of the exception of lack of standing to act of the defendant.
1. Upon expiration of the terms referred to in the preceding paragraphs without compliance with the order, the proceedings shall be declared null and void
and the process shall be terminated.
5. Annul what has been done and terminate the proceeding, in the case of the exceptions of lack of jurisdiction, insufficient representation of the defendant,
lack of exhaustion of the administrative procedure, lack of standing of the plaintiff, lis pendens, res judicata, abandonment of the claim, termination of the
proceeding by conciliation or settlement, expiration, extinction of the statute of limitations or a settlement agreement.The court may annul the proceedings
and terminate the process, if the exceptions are incompetence, insufficient representation of the defendant, lack of exhaustion of administrative remedies,
lack of standing of the plaintiff, lis pendens, res judicata, abandonment of the claim, conclusion of the process by conciliation or transaction, expiration,
extinctive prescription or arbitration agreement.
Phases of the evidentiary activity
PERIODS
The evidentiary activity is developed in four moments: the offer, the admission, the preparation, the reception and the presentation.
THE OFFER
This is the period within the evidentiary stage of the process in which the parties may propose to the judge the reception of the evidence they deem pertinent.
The following guidelines should be observed:
The evidentiary means must be proposed within a common term of five days, starting from the day following the date on which the notification of the order to
open the trial to evidence takes effect (Art. 2.126), with the exception of the confessional evidence, which may be proposed before the hearing; of the
documents previously exhibited and the documents of record, which must be taken into account even if they are not expressly offered; and of the documents
of events that occurred previously or whose existence is unknown, which may be presented later and before the judgment is summoned, when this fact is
asserted under oath.
The evidence must be offered in relation to each of the points in dispute, otherwise it will be dismissed. (Art. 1.258)
THE ADMISSION
This is the period within the evidentiary stage of the process in which the judge analyzes the evidence proposed by the parties and determines whether it is
feasible to proceed with its preparation and presentation. It is carried out in an order called admissory of evidence and must meet the following requirements:
To be rendered on the day following the end of the period for offering of evidence.
Determine the evidence to be admitted on each fact, being able to limit the number of witnesses and reject those contrary to law, morals, or on facts not
disputed by the parties, impossible or notoriously improbable. (Art. 1.258)
When any means of evidence is rejected, an appeal may be filed in devolutive effect, since if it is admitted, only the appeal of liability is allowed.
PREPARATION
This is the period within the evidentiary stage of the process in which the necessary activities are carried out so that the evidence admitted by the judge can
be presented. Each evidentiary instrument, depending on its nature, as we will see below, requires certain arrangements to be made to make its practice
feasible, such as summoning the parties, witnesses, experts, requesting a report from the authorities, issuing letters rogatory, etc. In the ordinary process, the
judge, with the assistance of the parties, is directly in charge of the preparation of the evidence; however, in some special trials, in order to expedite the
process, the parties are obliged to carry out the preparation under the warning that if they fail to do so, the evidence will not be received.
THE RECEPTION OR RELIEF
It is carried out before the judge in a public act called hearing of evidence and allegations, which must adhere to the following guidelines:
The parties are summoned to appear at the hearing in the order admitting the evidence.
A date must be set for the hearing within 15 days following the order admitting the evidence. (Art. 2.126)
The judge, the secretary of agreements, the parties, the experts, witnesses and other persons who must intervene must attend the hearing.
The parties may appear assisted by their counsel.
At the beginning of the meeting, it should be determined who will remain in the room and who will remain in a separate place, to be introduced at the
appropriate time.
It must be held whether or not the parties are present and whether or not the witnesses, experts or attorneys are present , in accordance with the guidelines
that will subsequently be established.
Test source
They are the facts perceived by the judge and which serve him for the deduction of the fact to be proved" (CARNELUTTI. 1982: 89). In his opinion, the
sources of evidence are grouped into two main categories according to whether or not they constitute the representation of the fact to be proved, but taking for
granted that in either case there are sources of evidence.
Means of proof
It is the instrumento, thing or circumstance in which the judge finds the reasons for his conviction. The proof is produced by some of the means that the law
admits and thus the statement by a truthful witness of the fact witnessed by him is a motive of proof".
The means of proof are those adequate to provoke in the judge the conviction that a given fact has been verified, basing them on those determined by law.
Test
The purpose of proof is to demonstrate the existence or non-existence of a fact, therefore everything that can be the object of knowledge and that is alleged
as the basis of the right that is claimed, must be understood as the object of proof.