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

Article 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure establishes the principle of jurisdiction based on the amount of the claim, with this amount, as well as the appellate jurisdiction threshold below which an appeal is not available, being determined by the rules specific to each court. In other words, the value of the dispute determines the competent court (jurisdictional threshold), but also whether it is …

Principle

Article 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure establishes the principle of jurisdiction based on the amount of the claim, with this amount, as well as the appellate jurisdiction threshold below which an appeal is not available, being determined by the rules specific to each court. In other words, the value of the dispute determines the competent court (jurisdictional threshold), but also whether it is a final decision or if an appeal to the Court of Appeal is possible (appellate jurisdiction threshold). According to the Court of Cassation, when the court rules on a claim amounting to less than its jurisdictional threshold in the last instance, its decision is not subject to appeal, even if the claim constituted the balance of another sum whose total exceeds the jurisdictional threshold in the last instance, as long as the court only has to rule on the existence of this sole balance . However, if the claimant increases their claims during the proceedings and their amount comes to exceed the jurisdictional threshold in the last instance of the court, the latter renders a decision subject to appeal .

Cass. 2e civ., 26 January 1972, LawLex202200011617JBJ; 31 January 1973, LawLex202200011618JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 2 February 1999, LawLex202200011619JBJ.

Before the entry into force on 1 January 2020 of the law of 23 March 2019 , which merges the district court and the regional court into a judicial court, the district court had jurisdiction over personal and movable matters as long as the amount of the claim did not exceed 10,000 euros, and the regional court for all claims exceeding that amount. Now, the reference to the amount of the claim no longer appears in Article L. 211-3 of the Code of Judicial Organization.

However, the jurisdictional threshold determines the cases in which the parties are exempt from instructing counsel before the judicial court, excluding matters under its exclusive jurisdiction, when the claim involves an amount less than or equal to EUR 10,000 or concerns an undetermined claim originating from the performance of an obligation not exceeding EUR 10,000 (Art. 761, para. 1, 3°, CPC). It serves the same role before the Commercial Court, where the parties do not need to instruct counsel, when the claim involves an amount less than or equal to EUR 10,000 EUR or originates from the performance of an obligation not exceeding EUR 10,000 , within the framework of insolvency proceedings or for disputes related to the maintenance of the commercial register (Art. 853, para. 3, CPC).

Within the judicial court, the subject-matter jurisdiction of the local chambers includes personal or movable actions up to the value of EUR 10,000 and undetermined claims originating from the performance of an obligation not exceeding EUR 10,000 , in civil matters, provided they do not fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of another court (Art. D. 212-19-1 COJ and tables IV-II and IV-III annexed to the COJ).

Law 2019-222 of 23 March 2019 on the 2018-2022, OJ of 13 April 2019.

Jurisdictional threshold

The appellate jurisdiction claim threshold  (taux de ressort) determines whether a dispute is subject to appeal. Article R. 211-3-24 of the Code of Judicial Organization sets the appellate jurisdiction threshold at EUR 5,000 when the Judicial Court is called upon to hear, in civil matters, a personal or movable action. Any dispute equal to or less than this threshold will be judged by the court as a final decision, including in matters for which it has exclusive jurisdiction (Art. R. 211-3-25 COJ) . Similarly, the Commercial Court rules as a final decision when it hears claims up to EUR 5,000 (Art. R. 721-6 Commercial Code). The same applies to the labor tribunal, whose threshold has increased from EUR 4,000 to EUR 5,000  (Art. D. 1462-3 Labor Code).

However, under Article R. 211-3-1 of the Code of Judicial Organization, the Judicial Court has jurisdiction with the right to appeal, allowing it to rule with the right to appeal in matters for which jurisdiction is not expressly assigned to another court due to the nature of the claim, regardless of the appellate jurisdiction threshold. These matters are listed in Articles R. 211-3-2 and following of the Code of Judicial Organization. Examples include applications for the release of opposition affecting lost or stolen bearer securities, boundary actions, or disputes related to the installation of radio broadcasting receiver antennas.

Finally, the parties may agree that their dispute will be judged by a court even if it lacks jurisdiction due to the amount of the claim or, by express agreement, that their dispute will be judged without appeal even if the amount of the claim exceeds the appellate jurisdiction threshold, provided that the dispute has arisen and concerns rights over which they have free disposal (Art. 41 CPC).

Constitute matters falling under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Judicial Court: the status of persons (Art. R. 211-3-26, 1°, COJ); the annulment of civil status documents, with irregularly drawn up documents also subject to annulment by the Public Prosecutor (Art. R. 211-3-26, 2°, COJ); successions (Art. R. 211-3-26, 3°, COJ); civil fines incurred by civil status officers (Art. R. 211-3-26, 4°, COJ); petitory real estate actions (Art. R. 211-3-26, 5°, COJ); industrial awards (Art. R. 211-3-26, 6°, COJ); the dissolution of associations (Art. R. 211-3-26, 7°, COJ); safeguard, judicial recovery, and judicial liquidation when the debtor does not engage in commercial or artisanal activity (Art. R. 211-3-26, 8°, COJ); insurance against accidents and occupational diseases for non-salaried persons in agriculture (Art. R. 211-3-26, 9°, COJ); registration duties, land publicity tax, stamp duties, and indirect contributions and taxes assimilated to these duties, taxes, or contributions (Art. R. 211-3-26, 10°, COJ); commercial leases except for disputes relating to the determination of the price of the revised or renewed lease, professional leases, and precarious occupation agreements in commercial matters (Art. R. 211-3-26, 11°, COJ); the registration of forgery against authentic instruments (Art. R. 211-3-26, 12°, COJ); civil actions for defamation or for public or non-public insults, verbal or written (Art. R. 211-3-26, 13°, COJ); finally, disputes concerning the payment, guarantee, or reimbursement of claims of any nature recovered by the customs administration and other customs matters, in the cases and conditions provided for in the Customs Code (Art. R. 211-3-26, 14°, COJ).

Decree 2020-1066 of 17 August 2020 relating to the increase of the final jurisdictional threshold of labor tribunals, JO of 19 August 2020.

Appellate jurisdiction threshold

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

81. Principle

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Les notions juridiques connexes

81. Principle

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