French Code of civil procedure

The statement of appeal shall contain, on pain of nullity: 1° For plaintiffs who are natural persons: an indication of their surname, first names and domicile; For plaintiffs who are legal persons: an indication of their form, name and registered office and, in the case of administrative or judicial authorities, an indication of their name and the place where they are established; 2° For defendants who are natural persons: an…

The declaration shall be delivered to the court registry in as many copies as there are defendants, plus two. Delivery shall be recorded by mention of its date and the visa of the court registrar on each copy, one of which shall be returned immediately.

The court clerk immediately sends the defendant by simple letter a copy of the statement with the indication that he must, if he intends to defend the appeal, appoint a lawyer to the Conseil d’Etat and the Cour de cassation. If the letter of notification is returned to the clerk’s office, the clerk of the Court of Cassation immediately notifies the appellant’s lawyer so that he can proceed by way…

On pain of forfeiture established by order of the First President or his delegate, the applicant for judicial review must, at the latest within four months from the date of the appeal, submit to the clerk’s office of the Court of Cassation a brief containing the pleas in law relied on against the contested decision. The brief must, under the same penalty, be notified within the same time limit to…

On pain of inadmissibility of the appeal pronounced ex officio, the following must be submitted to the registry within the time limit for filing the statement of case: -a copy of the contested decision; -a copy of the decision confirmed or reversed by the contested decision. In the event of incomplete or materially incorrect transmission of any of these documents, a notice setting a time limit for rectification shall be…

The appellant must also attach the documents relied on in support of the appeal and a copy of the last submissions filed by the parties to the appeal before the court from which the contested decision emanates.

If the defendant to the appeal has not constituted a lawyer, service is made on the party himself. The document of service indicates to the defendant that he must, if he intends to defend the appeal, constitute a lawyer at the Conseil d’Etat and the Cour de cassation and informs him that if he does not constitute a lawyer, the judgment to be delivered cannot be opposed. This document also…

The adviser in charge of the report may ask the claimant’s lawyer to provide him, within a time limit that he shall set, with any document that may be useful in the investigation of the case.

The respondent to the appeal has a period of two months from the service of the appellant’s statement of case to submit to the registry of the Cour de cassation a statement in response signed by a lawyer at the Conseil d’Etat and at the Cour de cassation and to notify it to the appellant’s lawyer in the form of notifications between lawyers. The period provided for in the preceding…