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

According to Article 272 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the decision ordering an expert assessment may be appealed independently of the judgment on the merits with the authorization of the first president of the Court of Appeal if a serious and legitimate reason is justified. By referring to the decision ordering an expert assessment, the text de facto excludes the decision of a pre-trial judge w …

Conditions

According to Article 272 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the decision ordering an expert assessment may be appealed independently of the judgment on the merits with the authorization of the first president of the Court of Appeal if a serious and legitimate reason is justified. By referring to the decision ordering an expert assessment, the text de facto excludes the decision of a pre-trial judge who prescribes the execution of work under the verification of an expert previously appointed in interim proceedings  or the decision that appoints a court bailiff to carry out findings .

As an exception to the principle that judgments which do not decide on part of the merits in their operative part and which order an investigative measure cannot be appealed independently of the judgment on the merits , Article 272 grants a right of appeal against the decision ordering an expert assessment, however, this is subject to the authorization of the first president of the court of appeal , who alone is competent to assess the admissibility of such a request . However, this authorization is not required for the appeal of a mixed judgment, which orders an expert assessment and partially decides on the merits . This is not the case for a judgment that merely orders an expert assessment and the payment of an advance in its operative part, without deciding on part of the merits . However, since for each party the merits refer to the subject matter of the dispute concerning them, in the case of multiple parties, the appeal is admissible without the president's authorization provided that, with respect to the party challenged, the judgment decides on a portion of the merits .

In addition to the authorization of the first president of the Court of Appeal, an immediate appeal against the decision ordering the expert assessment requires the existence of a serious and legitimate reason , the assessment of which falls under the sovereign power of the president of the Court of Appeal . A party justifies a serious and legitimate reason when the judge, seized with a challenge to the validity of a dismissal for gross misconduct, assigns the expert the task of verifying, in particular, the accounting legitimacy of each reason for the dismissal, thus proceeding to a partial delegation of their judicial power . Similarly, it is appropriate to authorize a party to appeal under the terms of Article 272 of the Code of Civil Procedure when the court deemed it necessary to rule under Article 145 of the same code while a trial on the merits was underway, and in doing so, failed to examine whether the expert measure did not compensate for the parties' failure in the administration of evidence, resulting in a legal error that led it to misunderstand the scope of its office .

The party wishing to appeal applies to the first president, who rules according to the expedited procedure on the merits, with the writ of summons to be served within one month of the decision (Art. 272, para. 2, Code of Civil Procedure). However, no provision of the Code of Civil Procedure requires the judge who ex officio raises a bar to proceedings due to the expiration of the time limit for filing to first seek the parties' explanations . If the first president grants authorization, even though the writ of summons to appear before him was not served within one month of the judgment being rendered, the appeal cannot subsequently be declared inadmissible .

Cass. 2e civ., 5 May 1978, LawLex202300003765JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 9 November 1983, LawLex202300005554JBJ.

CA Toulouse, 20 April 2022, LawLex202300005894JBJ.

CA Orléans, 1 February 2017, LawLex202300005842JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 11 January 1978, LawLex202300007076JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 17 December 1979, LawLex202300005646JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 18 March 1980, LawLex202300005565JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 19 March 1980, LawLex202300005558JBJ

Cass. 3e civ., 19 March 2008, LawLex202200003531JBJ.

Cass. mixte, 25 October 2004, LawLex202300003767JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 24 May 1984, LawLex202300005560JBJ.

Aix-en-Provence, 4 July 2011, LawLex202300005851JBJ; Paris, 29 July 2016, LawLex202300005822JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 3 April 1978, LawLex202300003850JBJ.

1. Ordinary Law of Civil Procedure

168. Conditions

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

168. Conditions

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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