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 695 of the Code of Civil Procedure lists the costs included in the expenses related to proceedings, acts, and procedures. Included in the expenses are the fees, taxes, charges, or emoluments collected by the court registries or the tax administration, except for the fees, taxes, and penalties that may be due on the acts and titles produced in support of the parties' claims (1°); the costs  …

Costs

Article 695 of the Code of Civil Procedure lists the costs included in the expenses related to proceedings, acts, and procedures. Included in the expenses are the fees, taxes, charges, or emoluments collected by the court registries or the tax administration, except for the fees, taxes, and penalties that may be due on the acts and titles produced in support of the parties' claims (1°); the costs of translating documents when required by law or an international agreement (2°); witness indemnities (3°); remuneration of experts (4°); tariffed disbursements (5°) ; emoluments of public or ministerial officers (6°); remuneration of lawyers to the extent it is regulated, including pleading fees (7°); costs incurred by the service of a document abroad (8°); interpretation and translation costs required by investigative measures carried out abroad at the request of the courts under Regulation No 2020/1783 of 25 November 2020 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters (recast); social investigations ordered pursuant to Articles 1072, 1171, and 1221 (10°); remuneration of the person appointed by the judge to hear the minor, pursuant to Article 388-1 of the Civil Code (11°); and finally, the remuneration and costs related to the measures, investigations, and examinations required under the provisions of Article 1210-8 (12°). Not included in the expenses, within the meaning of Article 695, are the fees collected only on the occasion of the decision, which remain the responsibility of the party liable for them according to civil and tax laws, unless the judgment imposes their payment on the other party as damages , the remuneration of lawyers when their representation is not mandatory , or the cost of a report for which the expert was not appointed for this purpose by a court decision .

The fees, taxes, charges, or emoluments collected by the court registries or the tax administration, except for the fees, taxes, and penalties that may be due on the documents and titles submitted in support of the parties' claims, as well as witness indemnities, are settled in the judgments that award them by a note affixed to the original by one of the judges of the court (Art. 701, para. 1, Code of Civil Procedure). Before the Court of Cassation, it is necessary to distinguish between a cassation with or without referral. In the case of cassation without referral, the costs ruled upon can only refer to the costs related to the procedure that led to the quashed decision . In the case of cassation with referral, “the referral court rules on the allocation of all costs incurred before the trial courts, including those related to the quashed decision” (Art. 639 Code of Civil Procedure) . While the judge is obliged to rule on the costs, their allocation is at his discretion . Therefore, he is not required to justify his decision with special reasons . The interim relief judge also rules on the costs (Art. 491, para. 2, Code of Civil Procedure) .

Only those who have been parties to the proceedings may be ordered to pay costs . The court ruling on a dispute cannot order the parties to pay costs from another proceeding, unless it concerns expenses related to a proceeding that prepared the one before the main judge . When the party ordered to pay costs benefits from full legal aid, they are exempt from reimbursing the State Treasury for the amounts incurred by the State for the legal aid granted to their opponent . In principle, the burden of costs falls on the losing party (Art. 696, para. 1, CPC). The party that declares “does not oppose under the most express reservations” and does not join the claim may be ordered to pay costs . Similarly, in the case of intervention in the proceedings, the intervenor may be considered the losing party and bear the costs related to their intervention, as long as they have an interest in intervening in the proceedings . However, the judge has the power to assign all or part of the costs to another party, provided they justify their decision (Art. 696, para. 1, CPC) . The reason may be, for example, the litigant's behavior that forces the opposing party to incur unnecessary expenses . It may also be based on an equity criterion to exempt a party from any contribution to the procedural costs . The attribution of costs to the losing party, however, has exceptions. Incidents in proceedings follow specific rules. In the case of proceedings barred by peremption, the costs of the lapsed proceedings are borne by the one who initiated them (Art. 393 CPC) , and in the case of withdrawal from proceedings, the payment of the costs of the extinguished proceedings falls on the withdrawing party (Art. 399 and 405 CPC) . Furthermore, two exceptions to the principle are found in Articles 697 and 698 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Article 697 states that “lawyers, former attorneys, and judicial commissioners may be personally ordered to pay costs related to proceedings, acts, and enforcement procedures carried out beyond the limits of their mandate.” Article 698 provides that “costs related to unjustified proceedings, acts, and enforcement procedures are borne by the legal auxiliaries who performed them, without prejudice to any damages that may be claimed. The same applies to costs related to proceedings, acts, and enforcement procedures nullified due to their fault” . The judge, under Articles 697 and 698, even in the absence of any request from the parties, has the power to assign them to the responsible legal auxiliaries . No other condemnation than to costs can be pronounced against a legal auxiliary. Consequently, a court cannot pronounce a condemnation to damages against an auxiliary who appears in this capacity in the procedure and not personally .

Cass. 2e civ., 2 March 2000, LawLex202300011256JBJ.

Cass. com., 6 December 1994, LawLex202300004744JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 17 June 1999, LawLex202300011246JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 28 May 2003, LawLex202300011277JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 17 February 2011, LawLex202300011284JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 4 May 1994, LawLex202300011278JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 10 October 1979, LawLex202300011243JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 12 July 1989, LawLex202300011283JBJ; 10 February 1993, LawLex202300011282JBJ; 15 February 2001, LawLex202300011245JBJ; 6 May 2004, LawLex202300011280JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 15 March 1978, LawLex202300011281JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 10 December 2013, LawLex202300011260JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 29 January 2015, LawLex202300011244JBJ.

Cass. civ. 2e, 20 March 1992, LawLex202300011317JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 28 June 1995, LawLex202300011285JBJ, Bull. civ. II, No 219; JCP 1995, IV, 2119; D. 1995, IR 211; 5 May 2011, LawLex202300004212JBJ, Procédures No 7, July 2011, comm. 224, PERROT.

Cass. 2e civ., 2 December 1987, LawLex202300011254JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 28 May 2003, LawLex202300011267JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 23 June 2011, LawLex202300011266JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 17 March 2004, LawLex202300011255JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 9 March 1994, LawLex202300011273JBJ, Gaz. Pal. Rec. 1994, 2, pan. jurispr. 202; JCP 1994, IV, No 1235.

Cass. com., 13 March 1984, LawLex202300011275JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 6 February 1974, LawLex202300011258JBJ; Cass. com., 5 January 1976, LawLex202300011279JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 29 May 2002, LawLex202200009478JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 7 November 2002, LawLex202200005695JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 28 September 2005, LawLex202200008587JBJ; 27 January 2010, LawLex202200007853JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 18 February 2015, LawLex202300007680JBJ

Cass. 1re civ., 16 January 1980, LawLex202300011274JBJ; Cass. soc., 25 May 1981, LawLex200200006070JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 12 May 1987, LawLex202300011259JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 29 October 1990, LawLex202300011257JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 15 February 1973, LawLex202300011242JBJ; 29 January 1985, LawLex202300011276JBJ.

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

251. Costs

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Les notions juridiques connexes

251. Costs

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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