Title IV: Citations and meanings

If the person against whom the writ is served has no known domicile or residence, the bailiff shall deliver a copy of the writ to the public prosecutor’s office of the court seised. The foregoing provisions shall apply to the service of a document concerning a legal person whose registered office is unknown. When the public prosecutor ascertains by means of a report that a person whom he wishes to…

If the writ is a service of a decision, the bailiff must have completed the steps provided for in Articles 555 to 559 within a maximum period of forty-five days from the request of the public prosecutor or the civil party. On expiry of this period, the bailiff must inform the public prosecutor that he has been unable to effect service. The public prosecutor may then arrange for service to…

Where it is not established that the interested party has received the letter addressed to him by the bailiff in accordance with the provisions of Articles 557 and 558, or when the writ has been delivered to the public prosecutor’s office, an officer or agent of the judicial police may be requested by the public prosecutor to carry out searches with a view to discovering the address of the person…

In the cases provided for in articles 557 and 558, the copy shall be delivered in a sealed envelope bearing no information other than the surname, first names and address of the interested party or, if the addressee is a legal entity, its name and address, and the seal of the bailiff’s office affixed to the seal of the envelope.

If the person resides abroad, he or she is summoned to the public prosecutor’s office at the court seised. The public prosecutor shall endorse the original and send a copy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs or to any authority determined by international conventions. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall apply to legal entities that have their registered office abroad.

In all cases, the bailiff must mention on the original of the writ, and in the form of a report, his diligence as well as the responses that have been made to his various interpellations. The public prosecutor may order the bailiff to carry out new searches, if he considers that those that have been carried out are incomplete. The original of the summons must be sent to the person…

Bailiffs are required to put, at the end of the original and the copy of the writ, the cost thereof, on pain of a civil fine of 3 to 15 euros; this fine is pronounced by the president of the court hearing the case.

A writ of summons may only be declared null and void where it has had the effect of prejudicing the interests of the person whom it concerns, subject, as regards time limits for summons, to the provisions of Article 553,2°.

If a writ is declared null and void through the fault of the bailiff, the bailiff may be ordered to pay the costs of the writ and the annulled proceedings, and possibly damages to the party who has been prejudiced. The court which declares the nullity has jurisdiction to pronounce these sentences.