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

When the claim is brought by several parties united by a legal relationship and a common interest, Articles 323 and 324 of the Code of Civil Procedure establish a principle of divisibility of proceedings or respective independence of co-litigants. In accordance with Article 323, each of the interested parties exercises and bears, for their own part, the rights and obligations of the parties to the …

Principle of divisibility of proceedings

When the claim is brought by several parties united by a legal relationship and a common interest, Articles 323 and 324 of the Code of Civil Procedure establish a principle of divisibility of proceedings or respective independence of co-litigants. In accordance with Article 323, each of the interested parties exercises and bears, for their own part, the rights and obligations of the parties to the proceedings. The acts performed by one of them neither benefit nor harm the others, subject to what is stated in Articles 475, 529, 552, 553, and 615 of the same code (Art. 324 CPC). From the principle of divisibility of proceedings follows the rule of the relativity of procedural acts with respect to persons other than the recipient of the act.

This rule must, however, be nuanced. First, if in the case of joint or indivisible liability of several parties, the notification made to one of them only starts the time limit with respect to that party, in cases where a judgment benefits several parties jointly or indivisibly, each can rely on the notification made by one of them (Art. 529 CPC) . In other words, each party can rely on the notification made by one of them only when the judgment benefits them jointly or indivisibly . Thus, a party can rely on the service of the judgment made by another and raise the inadmissibility of the appeal filed against it due to the identical nature of their submissions and the identical cause, purpose, and subject matter of the dispute . However, as long as there is no impossibility to execute separately the provisions of the judgment concerning each of the parties, a court of appeal cannot allow each of them to rely on the notification made by one of the parties . Nevertheless, when a judgment, which rejects a joint payment claim made against several defendants, does not establish any solidarity between them, this can be sought in a pre-existing act enforceable against the appellant . Furthermore, if the judge rules with respect to all defendants by a single judgment, circumstances may require that it be ruled with respect to only some of them (Art. 475, para. 2, CPC). Then, if the rule of divisibility generally applies in matters of appeal in cases of joint or indivisible liability with respect to several parties , the judge may order ex officio the involvement of the co-interested parties (Art. 552, para. 3, CPC) . He may, in particular, order one party to involve the other two co-indivisors . Moreover, in the case of indivisibility with respect to several parties, the appeal of one has effect with respect to the others even if they have not joined the proceedings, and the appeal filed against one is admissible only if all are called to the proceedings (Art. 553 CPC) . Finally, according to Article 615 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in the case of indivisibility with respect to several parties, the appeal of one has effect with respect to the others even if they are not joined in the cassation proceedings (para. 1) and “the appeal filed against one is admissible only if all are called to the proceedings” (para. 2) .

Cass. 2e civ., 12 October 2006, No 05-14.573, LawLex202300007830JBJ; 17 January 1996, LawLex202300007833JBJ, on the absence of indivisibility between the main action of the project owner against the project manager and the latter's recourse for indemnity against another builder; 12 June 2003, LawLex202300007829JBJ; 7 July 2005, LawLex202300007827JBJ; 12 October 2006, LawLex202300007830JBJ; CA Pau, 3 November 2021, LawLex202300006813JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 10 December 1986, LawLex202300007828JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 7 July 2005, No 04-13.972, LawLex202300007826JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 7 April 2016, LawLex202300007835JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 6 May 1998, No 95-14.609, LawLex202300014422JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 16 November 1977, LawLex202300007832JBJ: no link of indivisibility exists between two actions having different subject matters and parties; Cass. soc., 4 June 1984, LawLex202300007834JBJ: there is no indivisibility between final decisions when the enforcement of some is not incompatible with that of others.

Cass. 2e civ., 8 October 1986, LawLex202300014519JBJ: Article 552 of the Code of Civil Procedure does not require, for its application, that the appellants have a common interest and support the same arguments.

Cass. soc., 28 April 1994, LawLex202400003176JBJ.

Cass. com., 28 April 1998, LawLex202300007462JBJ; Cass. 3e civ., 19 June 2002, LawLex202300007461JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 12 October 2004, LawLex202300007458JBJ; Cass. com., 29 September 2015, LawLex202100002444JBJ; 15 November 2016, LawLex202100002449JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 7 January 2016, LawLex202300007464JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 8 February 2017, LawLex202200007522JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 21 February 2019, LawLex202300007465JBJ; 2 July 2020, LawLex202300007463JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 22 November 1994, LawLex202400003178JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 25 June 1998, LawLex202300007459JBJ; Cass. com., 31 January 2018, LawLex202300007466JBJ.

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

194. Principle of divisibility of proceedings

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Les notions juridiques connexes

194. Principle of divisibility of proceedings

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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