Introduction

Role of the parties

Role of judge

Contentious matters

Concept

Powers of the judge

Principle of adversarial proceedings

Non-contentious matters

Underlying principles of civil proceedings

Right to bring civil action

Abuse of the right to bring proceedings

Type of action

Concept of action

Interest in bringing proceedings

Standing

Rules governing action

Legal action

Initial claim

Counterclaim

Additional claim

Intervention

Incidental claim

Interruption of limitation period

Application to file suit (demande en justice)

Defense on the merits

Procedural objections (exceptions de procédure)

Procedural bars to admissibility (fins de non-recevoir)

Defenses

Nature of claim

Amount of the claim

Jurisdiction ratione materiae

Principles

Exceptional territorial jurisdiction

Extension of jurisdiction

Territorial jurisdiction

Competent court

Formal requirements

Substantive requirements

Presentation of the QPC (Question prioritaire de constitutionnalité)

Referral to Court of Cassation

Referral to Constitutional Council

Referral of the QPC

Investigation procedure

Conduct of hearing

Decision of the Constitutional Council

Proceedings before Constitutional Council

Priority question of constitutionality (QPC)

Simplified case preparation procedure

Participative procedure for case preparation purposes

Extra-judicial case preparation

Recourse to technical expert

Agreements on extra-judicial case preparation (mise en état)

Disclosure of exhibits

Production of documents

Exhibits

Common provisions for investigations

Rules specific to each investigation

Investigative measures

Disputes concerning private deeds (actes sous seing privé)

Forgery procedure against authentic instruments

Challenges to documentary evidence

Oath sworn as decisive evidence

Oath tendered by way of supplementation

Judicial oath

Administration of evidence

Hearings

Deliberations

Judgment

Formation

Judgment after adversarial proceedings

Judgment by default or judgment after trial

Contentious or non-contentious judgment

Judgment on the merits or provisional ruling (avant dire droit)

Combined judgment

Provisional judgment

Judgment in fast track proceedings

Types

Joinder and severance of proceedings

Interruption of proceedings

Suspension of proceedings

Discontinuance of proceedings (extinction)

Procedural incidents

Plea of lack of jurisdiction

Recusal/Dismissal for legitimate suspicion

Challenging the judge's competence

General rules

Voluntary intervention

Compulsory intervention

Joinder in proceedings (intervention)

Existence of a judgment

Same subject matter, cause, and parties

Authority of res judicata

General conditions of enforcement

Provisional enforcement

Grace period

Enforcement of the judgment

Bearing of costs

Order to pay non-recoverable costs

Verification/Recovery

Claims/Disputes

Costs and expenses

Ordinary remedies

Extraordinary remedies

Remedies

Judgments

Calculation of time-limits

Acts of judicial commissioners

Service of documents

Ordinary notification

Notification between lawyers

International notification

Place of notification

Notification

Communication by electronic means

Procedural acts

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

Respect for the adversarial principle requires that the party be heard or summoned to the hearing (Art. 14 CPC) . The company that, due to its registration, has legal personality , companies whose common manager resigned during the proceedings , the bank in a case concerning the invalidity of the interest stipulation , the company in a case seeking the appointment of a representative to initiate t …

Right of the parties to be heard or summoned

Respect for the adversarial principle requires that the party be heard or summoned to the hearing (Art. 14 CPC) . The company that, due to its registration, has legal personality , companies whose common manager resigned during the proceedings , the bank in a case concerning the invalidity of the interest stipulation , the company in a case seeking the appointment of a representative to initiate the shareholders' deliberation , or the company acting as an agent for a group in a procedure concerning the invalidity of a contract binding the latter  must be heard or summoned.

The right for each party to be heard or summoned means the right to be duly informed of the initiation of proceedings as well as of all applications submitted to the court. To meet this requirement, the legislator has established a number of formal rules that at a minimum guarantee the right to be summoned, such as those relating to the writ of summons by which the claimant cites the opposing party to appear before the court (Art. 56 CPC). The court must particularly ensure that the party cited to appear, who has not appeared, was duly summoned by the notice sent by the court bailiff or the court registry. This is not the case when the notices sent by registered and regular mail do not mention the place, day, or time of the hearing. However, the court cannot be accused of violating the adversarial principle when a duly summoned party does not appear, unless the summons to appear does not meet the requirements of Articles 655 to 659 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in which case a new summons of the defaulting party must be ordered.

Litigants summoned to the hearing may decide not to appear and thus not to benefit from their right to be heard. The situation differs depending on whether the non-appearance concerns the claimant or the defendant. In the case where the latter does not appear, “a decision is nevertheless made on the merits” (Art. 472, para. 1, Code of Civil Procedure). According to Article 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure, “when the defendant does not appear, the judgment is rendered by default if the decision is final and if the summons was not served in person” (para. 1) and “deemed adversarial when the decision is subject to appeal or when the summons was served to the defendant in person” (para. 2). In accordance with Article 17 of the same code, which states that “when the law allows or necessity requires that a measure be ordered without a party's knowledge, that party has an appropriate remedy against the decision that causes them harm,” the defendant has the option to file an opposition when the judgment is rendered by default (Art. 476, Code of Civil Procedure). When the claimant does not appear, “the defendant may request a judgment on the merits, which will be adversarial, except for the judge's option to postpone the case to a later hearing” (Art. 468, para. 1, Code of Civil Procedure) or to declare, even ex officio, the summons lapsed (Art. 468, para. 2, Code of Civil Procedure).

Cass. 2e civ., 12 October 1994, LawLex202200005707JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 15 May 2003, No 01-11.827, LawLex202200005712JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 21 January 2016,, LawLex202200005794JBJ; 13 January 2022, No 20-16.774, LawLex202200005789JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 25 March 1992, No 90-21.743, LawLex202200009766JBJ2.

Cass. com., 23 May 1995, No 93-12.910, LawLex202200005753JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 6 November 2001, No 99-10.335, LawLex202200005670JBJ.

Cass. com., 3 November 2004,  LawLex202200005750JBJ.

Cass. com., 16 September 2014, No 13-16.178, LawLex202200005803JBJ.

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

29. Right of the parties to be heard or summoned

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Les notions juridiques connexes

29. Right of the parties to be heard or summoned

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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