Conduct of a civil trial before the local court
Verified 26 June 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)
You are summoned to a civil hearing before the local court and you want to know how to present your claims or your defense? We present the procedure before, during or after the hearing.
If you want to enter the court of justice or the local court, you are the applicant.
Depending on the dispute, you must either have a assignment, or fill in a query.
Warning
You must apply to the court in accordance with the rules of procedure. For example, if you send a motion when a subpoena is required, your case cannot be tried.
If you receive a summons from graft by registered letter or if you are the recipient of a summons, you are the defendant to the procedure.
As the proceedings are oral, the trial is structured around an audience.
If the court is seized by motion, you are summoned for this hearing, as is your opponent. Otherwise, the date of the hearing is included in the summons.
Communication of documents and requests
In order to respect the adversarial principle, you must communicate your coins and requests to your opponent. If your opponent takes a lawyer, you should send them to him.
Your opponent must do the same.
Warning
You do not communicate your coins to your opponent at the last minute. If your documents are communicated too late to your opponent, the judge may refuse to take them into account.
The parts you want to use must also be forwarded to court before hearing. You can also file them in court on the day of the hearing.
You can try to agree with your opponent even if the court is seized. One amicable agreement may intervene at any time and thus terminate the procedure.
Assistance or representation
You can present in person at the hearing, possibly assisted by a lawyer.
If you are absent, you can be represented by a lawyer.
Who shall I contact
You can also make yourself represented by a person other than a lawyer.
If you wish to be represented at the hearing by another person, you can give them a power.
Power is one written document that allows the designated person to appear at the hearing and speak for and on behalf of you.
The designated representative must be major. He must appear at the hearing with the power and one identity document.
You can use a template to write your power:
In your authority, you must designate one of the following:
- Person with whom you live as a couple
- Your father or mother
- Your child
- Your brother or sister
- Your nephew or niece
- Your aunt or your uncle
- Person attached to your personal service or company (e.g. company lawyer or domestic worker).
If you go to the hearing, these same people are allowed to assist you in place of a lawyer.
Proceedings without hearing
The hearing is not mandatory if you give your consent. Your opponent must do the same.
The following form is used to give consent for proceedings without a hearing:
However, the judge may decide to hold a hearing if he or she considers it necessary or if one of the parties so requests.
If the proceedings proceed without a hearing, you must set out in writing your requests and arguments to your opponent and to the court.
Communication between your opponent and you must be by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt unless you have taken a lawyer.
If your case is not referred to a future hearing, it is dealt with at a hearing. adversarial debate.
The court sometimes has to rule on its material or territorial jurisdiction before handling the dispute.
Consequences of an absence from the hearing
Your absence from the hearing has different consequences if you are the plaintiff or the defendant:
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You are the applicant
If you are absent and unrepresented, the judge may lapse of the case. This decision has the consequence of terminate the procedure.
If you are excused from appearing, the case may be rescheduled or tried in your absence.
You are the defendant
The trial can be held if you do represented by a lawyer or a third party with power of attorney.
The trial may also take place if you are absent and unrepresented, but provided that your summons is regular. In this case, the judge must be able to verify that you have been informed of the existence of the trial (summons by letter RAR: titleContent or by commissioner of justice).
The judge may postpone the trial to another date if you make a request for postponement that the judge considers legitimate. He or she may also postpone the hearing if he or she considers that your attendance is necessary.
Request for referral
You can request the return. of your case. If the application is granted, the judge will set the date for the next hearing at which the case will be heard.
This request must be justified (too short a time to prepare your defense, legal aid application being processed ...).)
The judge can accept your request if he or she considers that the reason is legitimate (it must be serious and justified). In this case, the judge sets the date for the next hearing. They can also refuse your request: in this case, the case is examined on the same day.
In the event of dismissal, especially if your opponent has requested it, you can ask the judge to be exempted from appearing at the next hearing.
Territorial and material jurisdiction of the court
Before discussing the dispute itself, you may refer to the question of the substantive or territorial jurisdiction of the court which has been entrusted with the case. The judge may also raise this issue.
The court may declare itself incompetent to decide the case in the following cases:
- Litigation under the jurisdiction of another judge (for example, a family judge's litigation)
- Litigation under the jurisdiction of another court (e.g. labor court)
- Litigation under a court located in another city.
Conduct of the debates
The debates allow you and your opponent, to present your requests and arguments orally concerning the dispute between you.
The the judge presiding at the hearing shall organize the holding of the proceedings.
He gave the floor, first of all to applicant, then in a second step to defendant.
If you wish to provide additional explanations after your turn, you can ask the judge to take the floor again.
The judge may ask either party for clarification.
He can also hearing witnesses.
Exchanges during debates shall be recorded by the Clerk in a hearing note available from graft.
If the judge considers that the case requires further discussion or further information (e.g. an expert opinion or a visit to the premises), he or she may postpone the case to another date.
Please note
At any time, if the judge finds that an agreement can be reached, he may designate a conciliator of justice or a civil ombudsman. If this amicable path fails, the debates can resume.
Once the parties have spoken, the judge closes the proceedings.
It gives the date of deliberate, i.e. the date on which the judgment will be delivered.
No request or argument may be taken into account after the conclusion of the proceedings, unless expressly authorized by the judge.
On the day of deliberation, the judgment is made available at the registry, that is, you can go to the court to see him with your ID.
More rarely, the judgment can be pronounced orally during a hearing.
In any case, a copy of the judgment is sent to you afterwards.
The decision may be yours notified by the graft by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
If not, the decision must be served by a commissioner of justice. This service is usually made by the party who has an interest in enforcing the decision (the one who won the case).
FYI
The judgment is enforceable by provision (i.e. it applies even if a party exercises a remedy), unless otherwise specified in the decision.
The recourse you can make is indicated in the notification of the Registry or the Commissioner of Justice.
You can also deduce the possible recourse by looking at the drafting of the judgment. In the device from the decision, you can read that your judgment is either made in first instance, or made in last instance, or made in default.
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Judgment delivered at first instance
You can challenge in appealing.
Judgment rendered as a last resort
You can challenge by filing a appeal on a point of law.
Default Judgment
You can challenge the decision by training opposition.
The default judgment shall be that given in last resort and for which the citation was not issued to the defendant in the proceedings.
Warning
The time limit to contest starts from meaningthe notification by the court registry or the reading of the decision in open court.
If you notice a hardware error in your court decision, you can file a request for rectification. You can consider the same approach if the judge forgot to rule on a request from one of the parties to the dispute.
FYI
If a point of judgment is equivocal, that is, if it can be interpreted in several ways, you can ask the judge to interpret its own decision by filing a query. You can only make this request if the decision is not challenged in call. The judge decides after seeking the opinion of the parties.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
To find out
For more information on this subject, you can contact Allô Service Public.
Please note: the service does not have access to users' personal files and therefore cannot provide information on their progress.
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The informants who answer you belong to the Department of Justice.
To find out
House of Justice and LawTo be assisted
Lawyer
Referral by summons or by request
Lawyer's waiver for oral proceedings
Persons who may assist or represent a party in oral proceedings
Mandate of representation
Principle of adversarial
Ordinary oral procedure
Organization of the debates
Provisions specific to oral proceedings in the organization of debates
Contradictory judgment, deemed contradictory, by default
Proceedings without hearing
Termination of Inadmissibility
Judgment pronouncement, rectification and interpretation
Notification of judgment
Provisional enforcement (Article 514)
Point of departure time limit for bringing proceedings (Article 528)
Judgments subject to appeal
Opposable judgments (Article 571)
Judgments subject to appeal in cassation (Article 605)
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