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 ministerial officer responsible for various tasks, including drafting legal documents, serving court decisions, maintaining formal records, and conducting judicial expert assessments . These tasks are essential to ensure the transparency and legal security of proceedings. They must ensure the validity of the documents they issue and gather the necessary supporting do …

Ethics and incompatibilities

The judicial commissioner is a ministerial officer responsible for various tasks, including drafting legal documents, serving court decisions, maintaining formal records, and conducting judicial expert assessments . These tasks are essential to ensure the transparency and legal security of proceedings. They must ensure the validity of the documents they issue and gather the necessary supporting documents to justify their mandate . In carrying out these tasks, the judicial commissioner is subject to certain obligations.

First, he must demonstrate independence from the parties . He must act with impartiality and not take sides with either party. His duty of neutrality prohibits him from favoring his client's interests or interfering in the parties' affairs . Under Article 8 of the Ordinance of 2 June 2016, judicial commissioners cannot, under penalty of invalidity, act with respect to their relatives and in-laws, in direct line at all degrees and “in the collateral line up to the fourth degree”, their spouse, and their civil union partner. The substantive invalidity of an act executed by a judicial commissioner on behalf of a first cousin can be invoked in any event .

Secondly, the judicial commissioner must demonstrate integrity in the exercise of his duties. He must not act in a fraudulent, deceptive, or dishonest manner. He must particularly adhere to rules of transparency and loyalty towards the parties, which require him to inform them of the amount of his fees, expenses, and disbursements, as well as any developments in the procedure. The obligation to inform the client is limited by the professional secrecy to which the judicial commissioner is bound as a public and ministerial officer: he is prohibited from disclosing to his client information gathered in the course of executing mandates entrusted by third parties . Similarly, the judicial commissioner is guilty of the offense of breach of professional secrecy when he knowingly communicates to a third party, unrelated to the procedure, the content of a divorce summons he serves to a party . The concept of professional secrecy also covers information obtained from the tax administration by consulting the file of bank accounts opened in the name of the debtor of alimony, with a view to implementing a direct payment procedure for said alimony for which this information was requested .

Thirdly, the judicial commissioner is bound by a general duty of tact and courtesy, which prohibits any approach, solicitation, pressure, or exercise of influence, either directly or indirectly, with the aim of procuring business or diverting cases that a colleague is or should be handling. This obligation is not breached by a former lawyer, who has become a judicial commissioner, distributing announcements of their installation in their new position in the courtrooms of a tribunal, when these are devoid of any solicitation and are purely informational .

Finally, the judicial commissioner is subject to an incompatibility with engaging in any commercial activity , under penalty of disciplinary sanctions .

See Ord. No 2016-728 of 2 June 2016 on the status of judicial commissioner, Art. 1.

Cass. 1re civ., 12 September 2019, LawLex202300002184JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 21 October 1968, LawLex202300002846JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 1 June 2016, LawLex202300000333JBJ, emphasizing that bound by a statutory obligation of impartiality and independence, a judicial commissioner cannot act on behalf of an organization of which he is the treasurer.

Cass. 1re civ., 31 May 2007, LawLex202300000330JBJ.

Cass. com., 2 December 2014, LawLex202100003727JBJ, holding that he cannot inform his client of the debtor's state of cessation of payments.

Cass. crim., 11 June 2002, LawLex202300000332JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 22 March 2012, LawLex202200010420JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 5 July 2017, LawLex202300000331JBJ.

See Ord. No 2016-728 of 2 June 2016 on the status of judicial commissioner, Art. 5.

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

51. Ethics and incompatibilities

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51. Ethics and incompatibilities

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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