Classification of Legal Actions: A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on Oct 30, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

Classification of Legal Actions

Traditional Theory (Civil Law)

As to Nature

  • Capital: Defends property rights of economic value (e.g., actual actions and dividends).
  • Non-equity: Addresses concerns related to personal status, without economic connotation.

On the Subject

  • Real Estate Transactions: Covers immovable property.
  • Personal Property Transactions: Covers movable property.

Length of Object or Purpose

  • Principal: Self-contained, addressing a direct conflict of interest, independent of other actions.
  • Accessory: Dependent on a main action, serving as preparatory or incidental. Preventive actions avert detriment to the legal right in question.

Concerning Transferability

  • Transmitted: May be proposed by holders of the material right and continued by successors or assignees (e.g., due to death, assignment, or transfer of right).

Transferable: Reipersecutory, Criminal, and Mixed

  • Reipersecutory: Seeks the return of something that is due and outside the claimant’s assets.
  • Criminal: Addresses sanctions due to legal injury.
  • Mixed: Aims at both recovery of assets and sanctions for legal injury.

Modern Theory (by Courts)

Types of Actions

  • Action for Cognition: Establishes knowledge of the legal rule governing the case. Includes:
    • Condemnatory Action: Seeks a judgment stating the subjective right and requiring a provision to be met by the accused (penalty). Leads to an enforceable judgment.
    • Constitutive Action: Creates, modifies, or extinguishes a legal status or material relationship.
    • Declaratory Action: Declares the existence or nonexistence of a legal relationship, or the authenticity or falsity of a document. Can be main or incidental.
  • Enforcement Action: Seeks coercive implementation of the debtor’s obligation.
  • Precautionary Action: Ancillary and subsidiary, ensuring the effective development and fruitful results of cognitive and execution functions.

The Legal Procedure

Action is the right to exercise judicial activity, guaranteed by the Constitution. It begins with the plaintiff’s written request (initial call) and becomes effective with the defendant’s citation. This establishes the procedural relation between the judge, defendant, and plaintiff.

The process can terminate with a judgment (res judicata), with or without resolution of the merits. Termination without resolution occurs when the judge dismisses the case based on procedural grounds (e.g., lack of jurisdiction). The right of action can be exercised again.

A final judgment defines the issue, based on substantive law, ending the action and procedure. It has res judicata effect.

Resources (Remedies)

A resource is any measure taken to achieve a particular result, defending a right or fulfilling a subjective need (e.g., action, defense, exception, counterclaim, preventive measures).

Legal resources allow review of a decision by the same judicial body or a higher one. The aim is to reform, clarify, modify, cancel, or supplement the decision.

  • Reformation: Seeks a more favorable outcome.
  • Invalidation: Seeks cancellation or revocation due to procedural irregularities.
  • Clarification/Interaction: Eliminates lack of clarity, vagueness, or omissions.
  • Reiterative (Vacant): Case returned to another judge or court (e.g., extraordinary appeal).
  • Non-Reiterative (Vacant): Judged by the same judge (e.g., embargos).
  • Mixed: Review by the same judge or a higher body (e.g., interlocutory appeal).
  • Suspensive: Prevents execution of the judgment.
  • Non-Suspensive: Allows provisional execution.

Assumptions of Resources

Objective
  1. Recorribilidade (Admissibility): Whether the act is subject to appeal.
  2. Timeliness: Filed within the legal deadline.
  3. Uniqueness: Only one appropriate resource for each situation (exceptions exist).
  4. Adequacy: The correct resource for the type of decision.
  5. Fungibility: One resource may be accepted in place of another if there is no prejudice and no gross error.
  6. Preparation: Prior payment of processing costs.
Subjective
  1. Persons Entitled: Losing party and injured third parties.
  2. Loss of Legitimacy: Waiver of appeal or conformity with the decision.
  3. Joinder: Co-litigants can appeal even if the main party does not.
  4. Third Parties: Legitimate right to appeal, especially when intervening as opposing party.
  5. Mutation: Successors in interest have standing.
  6. Public Prosecution Service: Can appeal in cases where it is a party or has issued an opinion.