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

In accordance with Article 1355 of the Civil Code, res judicata has authority only if the subject matter of the dispute, the cause, and the parties are identical. This triple identity confers a relative effect on the authority of res judicata, as the decision is binding only between the parties to the proceedings. Third parties who are not bound by this decision may contest the facts. Indeed, a ju …

In accordance with Article 1355 of the Civil Code, res judicata has authority only if the subject matter of the dispute, the cause, and the parties are identical. This triple identity confers a relative effect on the authority of res judicata, as the decision is binding only between the parties to the proceedings. Third parties who are not bound by this decision may contest the facts. Indeed, a judgment cannot create rights or obligations in favor of or against those who were neither parties nor represented in the case .

The identical nature of the subject matter of the claim refers to an identical object . The subject of the judgment corresponds to the main claim or application submitted to the court. The action for boundary marking and the action for recovery of property , or the proceedings that led to the rescission of the contract and those seeking pre-contractual liability , do not have the same subject. Attached solely to the dispositive part of the decision, the authority of res judicata cannot be enforced when subsequent events have altered the situation previously recognized in court . Thus, the authority of res judicata is not enforceable against a claim made for the aggravation of damage initially repaired . However, the new character of the event cannot result from the fact that the party invoking it neglected to perform due diligence in a timely manner . Similarly, a new offer of evidence does not constitute a fact or event altering the situation previously recognized in court that would exclude the authority of res judicata .

The cause lies in the facts and legal grounds invoked by the claimant in support of their action. In other words, it refers to all the factual and legal elements that underpin the claim. In its Cesareo ruling, the Plenary Assembly established the impossibility for the claimant to contest the identical character of two claims by invoking a legal basis that they failed to raise in a timely manner during the proceedings of the first claim . In this way, it subjects the parties to an obligation to concentrate their arguments, requiring them to present from the initial proceedings all the arguments they consider capable of either supporting the claim or justifying its total or partial dismissal . A new claim made following an irrevocable decision, concerning the same parties who have retained the same status, and having the same cause, thus encounters the authority of res judicata regarding the same dispute . The defendant must similarly present all factual and legal arguments likely to justify the total or partial dismissal of the claim . The obligation to concentrate arguments primarily aims to prevent a party, by presenting a new claim, from contesting through an argument not supported in the first instance, the authority of res judicata outside the exercise of remedies .

However, if the Court of Cassation has required the consolidation in the same proceedings of all claims based on the same cause , this obligation only concerns actions with the same subject matter[ . The consolidation of arguments should not, in fact, be confused with that of claims. Thus, it is not incumbent upon the claimant to present all claims based on the same facts in the same proceedings . The parties may present new claims in subsequent proceedings, provided that these are based on the existence of a right arising after the decision rendered at the conclusion of the initial proceedings .

The identical character of parties requires that the claim concerns the same parties and is brought by and against them in the same capacity . This identical character pertains to the parties themselves and their successors in title. In the absence of identical parties, the admission or rejection of the claim in a first insolvency proceeding does not have the authority of res judicata in the second opened against the same debtor . If the extinction of the claim against the debtor subject to insolvency proceedings due to failure to file leaves the distinct obligation contracted by their joint and several co-debtor intact, the latter may enforce against the creditor the res judicata resulting from the irrevocable admission of the claim in the insolvency proceedings opened against the other joint and several co-debtor .

Cass. 1re civ., 1 July 1997, LawLex202300011068JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 16 September 2009, LawLex202300011135JBJ.

Cass. civ. 2, 19 February 2009, LawLex202300011113JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 1 July 2010, LawLex202300010957JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 12 July 2012, LawLex202300011108JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 20 March 2014, LawLex202300011117JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 12 May 2016, LawLex202300011090JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 27 February 2020, LawLex202300011130JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 28 May 2008, LawLex202300010955JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 23 September 2010, LawLex202300011120JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 26 May 2011, LawLex202300011129JBJ; 19 May 2022, LawLex202300011114JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 30 November 2016, LawLex202300011097JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 15 December 2022, LawLex202300011110JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 10 June 2010, LawLex202300011106JBJ.

Cass. com., 7 January 1997, LawLex202300011085JBJ; 19 June 2001, LawLex202300011086JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 10 November 2009, LawLex202300011131JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 21 January 2010, LawLex202300011118JBJ.

Cass. com., 3 December 2003, LawLex202200010943JBJ; Cass. ass. plén., 10 April 2009, LawLex202200003158JBJ.

Cass. com., 25 November 2008, LawLex202100002235JBJY.

Cass. 3e civ., 18 February 1998, LawLex202300011080JBJ; 18 October 2006, LawLex202300011081JBJ; 10 November 2009, LawLex202300011131JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 14 September 2006, LawLex202300011072JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 26 March 1996, LawLex202300011070JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 25 April 2007, LawLex202300011137JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 6 May 2010, LawLex202300011102JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 16 April 2015, LawLex202300011091JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 10 December 2020, LawLex202300011105JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 23 June 2015, LawLex202300011136JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 25 June 2015, LawLex202300011124JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 2 September 2020, LawLex202300011088JBJ.

Cass. ass. plén., 7 July 2006, LawLex202300010829JBJ.

Cass. com., 20 February 2007, LawLex202300011142JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 25 October 2007, LawLex202300011125JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 13 February 2008, No 06-22.093, LawLex202300011133JBJ; Cass. com., 28 October 2008, LawLex202300011144JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 1 October 2014, LawLex202300011087JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 1 July 2021, LawLex202300011098JBJ; 19 May 2022, LawLex202300011115JBJ.

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

240. Same subject matter, cause, and parties

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

240. Same subject matter, cause, and parties

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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