In Spanish civil procedure excepción denotes a “defense” (“defence,” in British English) that a defendant may raise or a “motion” that he may make in court in response to the allegations in a plaintiff’s complaint, and in this context the term cannot really be translated literally as “exception.” In that regard, there are “excepciones procesales/de forma” (procedural or formal defenses) that seek to defeat a lawsuit before it can proceed, and “excepciones materiales/de fondo” that address the merits of the case (affirmative defenses). In practice, the term excepciones generally denotes procedural defenses. In Spanish the defendant deduce, alega o formula excepción, all of which may be expressed in English as “raising a defense.”

There are quite a few defenses that can be raised in Spanish civil proceedings. Here are some of the most common with possible English renderings:

 –excepción de falta de competencia objetiva o territorial o sumisión a arbitraje (defense of lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, or submission to arbitration)

–excepción de falta de legitimación activa (defense that the plaintiff’ lacks standing)

–excepción de falta de legitimación pasiva (defense that the defendant lacks standing)

–excepción de falta de capacidad (lack of capacity defense)

–excepción de falta de litisconsorcio activo necesario (defense of failure to join/nonjoinder of an indispensable plaintiff)

–excepción de litisconsorcio pasivo necesario (defense of failure to join/nonjoinder of an indispensable defendant)

–excepción de litispendencia (lis pendens/another action pending defense)

–excepción de prescripción (statute of limitations defense)

–excepción de cosa juzgada (res judicata defense)

—excepción de falta de agotamiento de la vía administrativa;  excepción de falta de reclamación previa en vía administrativa (defense of failure to exhaust available administrative remedies)

—excepción de inadecuación de procedimiento (defense of improper proceeding)