Chapter IV: Common provisions.

The First President, or his delegate, at the request of one of the parties or of his own motion, may, after obtaining the opinion of the Public Prosecutor, reduce the time limits laid down for the filing of pleadings and exhibits. In such a case, the President of the competent panel shall set the date of the hearing as soon as the rapporteur or rapporteurs have been appointed.

In matters other than those where the appeal prevents the execution of the contested decision, the First President or his delegate shall decide, at the request of the defendant and after obtaining the opinion of the Public Prosecutor and the observations of the parties, to strike out a case where the plaintiff does not prove that he has executed the decision appealed against, unless it appears to him that execution…

The limitation period shall run from the date of notification of the decision ordering the striking off. It shall be interrupted by an act unequivocally expressing the intention to enforce. The First President or his delegate may, even of his own motion, after inviting the parties to present their observations, declare the lapse of time.

The first president or his delegate shall, unless he finds that the case has lapsed, authorise the case to be reinstated on the court’s roll on proof that the contested decision has been enforced. The time limits imposed on the defendant by the articles 982 and 991 shall run from the date of notification of the case’s reinstatement on the roll.

The cross-appeal, even if provoked, must, on pain of inadmissibility pronounced ex officio, be made in the form of a factum and contain the same particulars as the plaintiff’s factum. The factum must, under the same penalty: – be delivered to the registry of the Cour de cassation before the expiry of the time-limit laid down for the delivery of the factum in reply; – be served within the same…

Except in the case of forfeiture provided for in Article 978, the case shall be distributed as soon as the claimant has submitted his statement of case and, at the latest, on expiry of the time limit set for that purpose.

The chairman of the panel to which the case is distributed shall appoint a councillor or a referendary councillor of that panel as rapporteur. He may immediately fix the date of the hearing. He may, after obtaining the agreement of the parties, appoint a mediator to hear the parties and compare their points of view to enable them to find a solution to the dispute between them, in accordance with…

In addition to the cases in which the Chamber rules in restricted formation, the President may, in particular when the complexity of the case justifies it, appoint two rapporteurs from among the councillors or referendary councillors. Where the case requires an in-depth investigation, an investigation meeting is held before the report is submitted. 1° The president of the chamber appointed in accordance with the procedures set out in first paragraph…

After the pleadings have been lodged, this panel shall decide that there is no need to give a ruling in a specially reasoned decision where the appeal is inadmissible or where it is manifestly not such as to result in cassation. A panel may also decide not to reply in a specially reasoned decision to one or more pleas which are inadmissible or which are manifestly not such as to…

Where it is intended to raise one or more pleas of its own motion, to reject a plea by substituting a purely legal ground raised of its own motion for an erroneous one, or to declare a case quashed without referral back, the chairman of the bench or the rapporteur(s) shall notify the parties and invite them to submit their observations within the time limit they shall set. The same…