Introduction

Common provisions for proceedings with and without mandatory representation

Notice of appeal in cassation

Exchange of pleadings and documents

Proceedings with mandatory representation

Notice of appeal

Role of court clerk

Prerequisites

Review procedure

Judicial review in civil matters

Proceedings without mandatory representation

Concept of referral for opinion

Prerequisites for referral

Role of court seeking opinion of Court of Cassation

Role of the Court of Cassation

Procedure

Referral for opinion

Withdrawal

Recusal

Claim of forgery

Removal from the register

Cross-appeal (pourvoi incident)

Incidents

Concept of review (contrôle)

Extent of review

Grounds for appeal to the Court of Cassation

Review by Court of Cassation

Proceedings before the Court of Cassation

4. Proceedings before the Court of Cassation

In accordance with Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure, “the appeal to the Court of Cassation is filed by a written declaration that the party or any representative with a special power submits or sends by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the registry of the Court of Cassation” . Furthermore, a notice of appeal  (déclaration de pourvoi) which has not been signed by the ap …

Notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation

In accordance with Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure, “the appeal to the Court of Cassation is filed by a written declaration that the party or any representative with a special power submits or sends by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the registry of the Court of Cassation” . Furthermore, a notice of appeal  (déclaration de pourvoi) which has not been signed by the appellant or by a special representative justifying their capacity to represent them before the Court of Cassation does not comply with the requirements of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure . The special power cannot be drafted without including the date of the contested decision and the jurisdiction that rendered it . A document in which a party authorizes their lawyer “to represent their interests before French administrative and judicial courts concerning intervention and enforcement decisions regarding the refusal of residence and deportation” does not constitute a special power within the meaning of Article 984 . Moreover, a document issued before the contested decision cannot serve as the special power required for filing an appeal to the Court of Cassation . The Court of Cassation considers that the bar to proceedings claiming the appeal is inadmissible on the grounds that it cannot be verified that its signatory is a member of the professional civil law partnership of lawyers to which special power was given must be dismissed, as it results from the documents produced that the signatory of the appeal is an associate lawyer within the professional civil law partnership mandated by the appellant . Similarly, the appeal is admissible when the power, given by the appellant to a union delegate to present a brief on their behalf before the Court of Cassation, allows for the unambiguous identification of the procedure in which the representative must intervene, as it mentions the identity of the respondent to the appeal, and thus may not specify the date of the contested decision and the jurisdiction that rendered it, these details being included in the notice of appeal . Failing to comply with these provisions, the appeal is inadmissible .

The notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation must contain certain mandatory information under penalty of invalidity (Art. 985 CPC) . First, it must include, for individual applicants, the indication of their last name, first name, and domicile, and for corporate applicants, the indication of their form, name, and registered office, and for administrative or judicial authorities, the indication of their name and the place where they are established (Art. 985, para. 1, 1°, CPC). Next, it must include, for individual defendants, the indication of their last name, first name, and domicile, and for corporate defendants, the indication of their name and registered office, and for administrative or judicial authorities, the indication of their name and the place where they are established (Art. 985, para. 1, 2°, CPC). Finally, it must indicate the contested decision (Art. 985, para. 1, 3°, CPC) and be signed (Art. 985, para. 2, CPC). The Court of Cassation accepts the admissibility of the appeal in the event of a correction of a clerical error concerning the contested decision, which is attached to the notice of appeal .

As in proceedings with mandatory representation, the time limit for filing an appeal is generally two months from the notification of the contested act (Art. 612, CPC). Thus, when the notification of the contested judgment contains incorrect information regarding the form of the appeal, the time limit for appeal, which only starts from a proper notification, has not begun to run .

Cass. soc., 21 July 1986, LawLex202400001749JBJ: the appeal to the Court of Cassation filed by a lawyer, declaring to act as an agent, without providing a special power of attorney at the time of the notice of appeal, is inadmissible; 27 November 1986, LawLex202400001753JBJ: an appeal filed by a [lawyer] who, declaring to act as an agent for a party, attached to his notice of appeal a telegram instructing him to file this appeal, must be declared inadmissible ex officio, as the Court of Appeal is not in a position to assess the validity of such an unsigned document; 7 November 1990, LawLex202400001745JBJ: the notice of appeal that does not mention the production by the agent of a special power of attorney given by the company, when the agent had only been tasked with assisting the company for all acts of management and disposition, is inadmissible; 26 February 1992, LawLex202400001752JBJ: in a procedure without mandatory representation, the appeal to the Court of Cassation must be declared inadmissible as the signatory of the notice does not justify having either the status or the authority to file an appeal on behalf of the party he represents; 10 July 2001, LawLex202400002161JBJ: in labor matters, the appeal to the Court of Cassation, except when the applicant has appointed a lawyer at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation to represent them, is filed by written declaration that the party or any agent with a special power of attorney submits or sends by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the registry of the Court of Cassation; 17 October 2001, LawLex202400001852JBJ, noting that in labor matters, in cases where the parties are exempt from the ministry of a lawyer at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation, the appeal to the Court of Cassation and the subsequent procedural acts must be made, submitted, or sent by the party themselves or by any agent with a special power of attorney, so that when the notice of appeal does not include even a summary statement of the grounds for appeal and the brief containing this statement was prepared by an agent not justifying a special power of attorney, the appeal is subject to forfeiture; 22 November 2006, LawLex202400001750JBJ: the notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation in a procedure without mandatory representation is inadmissible as the declarant fails to justify that they had personally received the authority to file an appeal on behalf of the person appealing to the Court of Cassation.

Cass. 3e civ., 27 January 1982, LawLex202400002162JBJ; Cass. soc., 29 April 1986, LawLex202400001754JBJ: the appeal transmitted by telex, which does not allow the identification of its author, must be declared inadmissible.

Cass. 1re civ., 23 November 2000, LawLex202300011174JBJ; Cass. soc., 6 November 2001, LawLex202400001851JBJ: when the notification of the judgment of the Court of Appeal being challenged is irregular in that it does not mention either the time limit or the procedures for appeal to the Court of Cassation, contrary to the provisions of Article 680 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the time limit for appeal could not have started to run, so that the appeal submitted to the Court of Cassation's registry, out of time, must be declared admissible.- See already, Cass. soc., 19 June 1986, LawLex202400003790JBJ: since the judgment notified to the aforementioned parties, rendered after referral on cassation of a judgment of the Labor Court and wrongly classified as rendered in the first instance, also wrongly states that the parties may appeal within one month of its notification, it follows that its notification could not have triggered the time limit for appeal to the Court of Cassation, the only remedy available to the parties, and consequently the appeal, although filed more than two months after this notification, is admissible;

Cass. soc., 7 May 1997, LawLex202400001744JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 23 November 2000, LawLex202400001739JBJ: a mandate intended to give a person the power to “represent in all judicial and legal proceedings,” drafted in general terms, and which does not include any mention of the date of the contested decision and the jurisdiction that rendered it, does not meet the requirements of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure; Cass. 2e civ., 13 March 2020, LawLex202400001755JBJ: in electoral matters, the appeal to the Court of Cassation is filed by a declaration of the applicant in person or by an agent with a special power, which must necessarily have been issued for the purpose of filing the appeal in question, be subsequent to the contested decision and prior to the appeal; 18 June 2020, LawLex202400001860JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 10 February 1993, LawLex202400001742JBJ.

Cass. soc., 19 February 2014, LawLex202400001864JBJ.

Cass. soc., 16 March 2005, LawLex202400001748JBJ.

Cass. soc., 7 March 2000, LawLex202400002185JBJ.

Cass. soc., 15 December 1983, LawLex202400002174JBJ: the notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation filed by a lawyer, who relies on a power of attorney given by the manager of a company to a professional civil law firm or “to any other substituting lawyer,” but who does not justify either that he personally received the power to file an appeal on behalf of said company, or a substitution of the professional civil law firm, is inadmissible; 7 October 1987, LawLex202400001746JBJ: the notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation signed by the head of litigation of a company, who does not have standing to file an appeal to the Court of Cassation on behalf of the company, and who does not justify having received the power to do so, does not meet the requirements of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure; 13 July 1988, LawLex202400001747JBJ: the appeal filed by an unsigned typed declaration received at the court registry from which the challenged decision originates does not allow the Court of Cassation to assess the validity of this declaration with regard to the provisions of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and is therefore inadmissible; 26 February 1992, LawLex202400001751JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 29 March 2001, LawLex202400001741JBJ: the notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation, in a matter without mandatory representation, made by a lawyer substituting for his specially mandated colleague, without justifying either a special power of attorney or a regular substitution, is inadmissible; Cass. civ. 3e, 16 May 2001, LawLex202400001848JBJ; Cass. 2e civ., 29 November 2001, LawLex202400002163JBJ: the appeal to the Court of Cassation is filed by written declaration that the party or any agent, with a special power of attorney, submits or sends by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to the registry of the Court of Cassation, under penalty of inadmissibility; Cass. 2e civ., 14 October 2004, LawLex202400001859JBJ: the party appealing to the Court of Cassation against a judgment rendered by a court of appeal in matters of personal over-indebtedness, by simple letter sent by “Chronopost” to the registry of the Court of Cassation, does not meet the requirements of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure, according to which in matters without mandatory representation, the appeal to the Court of Cassation is filed by written declaration that the party or any agent, with a special power of attorney, submits or sends, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, to the registry of the Court of Cassation, so that the appeal is inadmissible; Cass. soc., 21 June 2006, LawLex202400002165JBJ: the photocopy of the power of attorney, attached to the written declaration of appeal sent to the registry of the Court of Cassation, does not satisfy the provisions of Article 984 of the Code of Civil Procedure, so that the appeal is inadmissible; Cass. 2e civ., 1 December 2011, LawLex202400001857JBJ: declaration made at the registry of the court that rendered the challenged decision results in the inadmissibility of the appeal.

Cass. soc., 7 November 2012, LawLex202400001759JBJ: the notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation that failed to mention one of the defendants, although the court registry of the jurisdiction that rendered the contested decision sent a copy of the notice to all of them, is tainted by a procedural irregularity that did not cause harm.

Cass. 2e civ., 30 June 2016, LawLex202400001757JBJ: a brief, filed within the three-month period of Article 989 of the Code of Civil Procedure, correcting a clerical error, is admissible.

4. Proceedings before the Court of Cassation

9. Notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation

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9. Notice of appeal to the Court of Cassation

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