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

The judgment is enforceable from the moment it becomes res judicata, unless the debtor is granted a grace period. Article 1343-5 of the Civil Code allows the court, in the context of a monetary obligation, considering the debtor's situation and the creditor's needs, to defer or stagger the payment of the amounts due, within a limit of two years, or, by a special and reasoned decision, to order that the amounts corresponding to the deferred installments will bear interest at a reduced rate at least equal to the legal rate, or that payments will be applied first to the principal. These grace measures can be requested at any stage of the proceedings, including, for the first time, on appeal . They may be subject to the debtor performing acts to facilitate or guarantee the payment of the debt. The ability to grant a grace period falls under the court's sovereign power , or even its discretionary power .

Article 510, para. 1, of the Code of Civil Procedure reserves the granting of a grace period to the decision whose execution it is intended to defer. The authority to grant a grace period thus falls to the first president who rules on the recovery of attorney fees , except when seized with a request to stay provisional enforcement and payment deadlines based on Article 524 of the same code . However, the ability to grant grace periods is also recognized for the interim relief judge in urgent cases and the enforcement judge, after service of a demand or a seizure order or from the hearing provided for by Article R. 3252-17 of the Labor Code (Art. 510, paras. 2 and 3, CPC). Thus, from the service of the demand to vacate the premises, any request for a grace period must be brought before the enforcement judge and not the interim relief judge . The granting of the period must be justified in all cases (Art. 510, para. 4, CPC).

The granting of a grace period is not always permitted . It is thus prohibited in the case of maintenance debts (Art. 1343-5, para. 6, Civil Code)  or when the debtor whose assets are seized by other creditors is in a state of judicial settlement or liquidation of assets, or who has, by their own actions, reduced the securities they had provided by contract to their creditor (Art. 512, para. 1, Code of Civil Procedure). In these last two cases, the periods already granted may even be lost (Art. 512, para. 2, Code of Civil Procedure).

When granted, the period runs from the day of the judgment when it is adversarial and, in other cases, from the day of the notification of the judgment (Art. 511 CPC) . It does not prevent interim protective measures (Art. 513 CPC).

Cass. 1re civ., 29 June 2004, LawLex202300000050JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 15 May 1996, LawLex202300013989JBJ, Bull. civ. III, No 115; D. 2015. 1178, DAMAS.

Cass. 1re civ., 24 October 2006, LawLex202300013986JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 9 March 2010, LawLex202300013994JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 12 April 2018, LawLex202300005929JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 13 February 1996, LawLex202300013984JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 14 September 2006, LawLex202300013988JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 18 September 2003, LawLex202300003817JBJ.

Cass. com., 10 December 1979, LawLex202300013991JBJ; Cass. soc., 16 April 1992, LawLex202300013992JBJ; 18 November 1992, LawLex202300013993JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 18 October 2000, LawLex202300013985JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 29 June 2011, LawLex202200010322JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 10 April 2014, LawLex202300000051JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 18 December 1991, LawLex202300000088JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 12 February 2004, LawLex202300000089JBJ.

Stay of enforcement

249. Stay of enforcement