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 principal claim of forgery must be preceded by a registration of forgery (inscription de faux) made under the conditions provided in Article 306 of the Code of Civil Procedure , meaning that the registration of forgery must be made by a document submitted to the court registry by the party or their representative with a special power of attorney.

The document, drawn up in duplicate, must, on pain of inadmissibility, precisely articulate the grounds that the party invokes to establish the forgery. One of the copies must immediately be filed in the case file, and the other, dated and endorsed by the court clerk, must be returned to the party for the purpose of notifying the registration to the defendant. The notification must be made by service between lawyers or service to the opposing party within one month of the registration. The copy of the registration document is attached to the writ of summons, which contains a demand for the defendant to declare whether or not they intend to use the allegedly forged or falsified document. The writ of summons must be issued within one month of the registration of forgery, on pain of its lapse (Art. 314, para. 2 and 3). The Court of Cassation holds that these special and mandatory public policy provisions exclude the application of Article 145 of the same code .

When the defendant states that they do not wish to use the document alleged to be forged, the court must record this for the claimant (Art. 315 Code of Civil Procedure). However, when the defendant does not appear or declares their intention to use the disputed document, proceedings must be conducted in accordance with Articles 287 to 294 (relating to the verification of writing requested incidentally) and 309 to 312 of the Code of Civil Procedure (relating to the incidental plea of forgery raised before the Judicial Court or the Court of Appeal) .

Cass. 1re civ., 11 June 2003, LawLex202300001921JBJ, specifying that since there is a procedure for the registration of forgery, governed by the special and mandatory public policy provisions of Articles 306 and 314 of the Code of Civil Procedure, an application for in futurum investigation for the appointment of an expert to determine whether the signature on an authentic power of attorney granted by the applicants' grandfather was his own is not admissible.

Regime

181. Regime