Introduction

Existence of a claim

Issuance of enforcement order (writs of execution)

Existence of seizable assets or claims

Conditions of enforcement

Judicial authority

Other authorities

Competent authorities and persons

Operations

Difficulties in enforcement

Implementation of compulsory enforcement

General regime of enforcement procedures

Concept of penalty

Scope ratione personae

Material scope

Determination of penalty

Competence of judge

Powers of court

Effects of ruling ordering or rejecting penalty

Pronouncement of penalty

Substantive conditions

Procedural conditions

Role and powers of the judge

Effects of liquidation judgment

Liquidation of the penalty

Penalty

Conditions of implementation

Contesting the measures

Ordinary law on protective measures

Protective seizures

Judicial security interests (sûretés judiciaires)

Specific regimes

Interim protective measures (mesures conservatoires)

Seizure of claims for sums of money

Seizure of tangible movable property

Seizure of intangible rights

Enforcement measures on movable property

Real estate seizures

Evictions

Enforcement measures on real estate

Enforcement measures

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

The judicial commissioner is a public and ministerial officer responsible for ensuring enforcement  procedures. As a ministerial officer, the judicial commissioner is appointed by the “Keeper of the Seals” (garde des Sceaux), i.e. the Minister of Justice, and is granted a delegation of public authority to perform his duties. He is thus vested with public authority to carry out certain legal acts such as the service of judicial documents, maintaining registers of formalities, conducting judicial expert assessments, or drafting private deeds. As a public officer, the judicial commissioner does not possess public authority: in this capacity, he only performs functions that fall within the private sphere, acting as an agent for the parties who entrust him with tasks such as drafting contracts or wills, managing amicable procedures, or conducting real estate sales.

The judicial commissioner is vested with exclusive competence for compulsory enforcement and protective seizures . The acts concerned are more precisely listed in I of Article 1 of the ordinance of 2 June 2016 . The list includes the enforcement of court decisions as well as acts or writs in enforceable form, the carrying out of inventories, appraisals, and public auctions of tangible or intangible movables prescribed by law or by court decision, the service of documents and writs, or notifications prescribed by laws and regulations when the mode of notification has not been specified, the implementation of protective measures after the opening of an estate under the conditions provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, the service of hearings at courts and tribunals, the issuance and enforcement of the writ of execution in the absence of proof of payment of the amount of a check and costs within fifteen days from receipt of the notification of a certificate of non-payment to the drawer of the check, the implementation of the simplified procedure for the recovery of small claims, the establishment of condition reports under the conditions provided in the second paragraph of Article 3-2 of the Law of 6 July 1989, and the assistance of the chief clerk in their mission of verifying guardianship accounts.

The service of a garnisment or attachment order (saisie-attribution)  or an order converting a protective seizure into a garnishment  by a sworn clerk must therefore be annulled for violating the exclusive jurisdiction of judicial commissioners. The legislator confines the exclusive jurisdiction of the judicial commissioner to acts of enforcement. Consequently, a sworn clerk may serve notices of seizures , a command for seizure and sale , the delivery of a document to the town hall , or the service of a court decision .

Ord. 2016-728 of 2 June 2016 on the status of judicial commissioner, JO 3 June 2016.

Cass. 2e civ., 28 June 2006, LawLex202200010597JBJ; Cass. 1re civ., 18 February 2003, LawLex202300002726JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 25 September 2014, LawLex202300000407JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 12 October 2006, LawLex202300002728JBJ; 14 February 2008, LawLex202300000408JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 13 May 2015, LawLex202300000409JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 4 October 2007, LawLex202300000410JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 27 February 2014, LawLex202300002488JBJ.

Exclusive mandate for acts of enforcement

52. Exclusive mandate for acts of enforcement