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

Decree No 2025-660 of 18 July 2025 on the reform of out-of court case preparation/management (instruction conventionnelle) and the recodification of ADR mechanisms, which forms part of the reform of civil procedure aimed at promoting amicable settlements of disputes, places cooperation between the parties and the autonomy of the parties in civil proceedings giving the court more of a guiding than a decison-making role . The decree introduces the principle that extra-judicial case management becomes the norm and judicial case management the exception. Article 127 of the Code of Civil Procedure thus provides that, in compliance with the guiding principles of proceedings, cases are managed by agreement between by the parties, or by the pre-trial judge (instruction judiciaire) if this is not possible.

Agreements relating to the preparation of the case may be made for the purpose of examining the entire dispute or implementing investigative measures. Article 128 specifies the content of the agreement between the parties during this “conventional” or “judicial” examination. 

The parties may notably agree to determine the points of law to which they intend to limit the debate, provided that they relate to rights over which they are exert, set the terms and conditions for communicating their submissions and documents; to a technical expert or record the findings and opinions given by a technician, record the hearings of the parties, heard in the presence of their counsel, as well as the statements of any person agreeing to give testimony on the facts they witnessed or personally observed, collated by the lawyers, either spontaneously or when questioned. 

The Decree establishes two forms of out-of-court case preparation : simplified conventional case management (Articles 129-1 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure) and participatory procedure (Articles 130 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure), the former being subsidiary to the latter, since Article 129 provides that case management takes this form only in the absence of a participatory procedure agreement for case management purposes.

Principle

292. Principle