Reichling on Fundamental Principles of Civil Ligation in the European Judicial Area

Noëmie Reichling (PhD, Avocat à la Cour, France) has just published a monograph on Fundamental Principles of Civil Litigation in the European Judicial Area, based on her doctoral thesis: Les principes directeur du procès civil dans l’espace judiciaire européen. Etude à partir du procès civil transfrontalier, PUAM, 2020.

The author has provided the following abstract in English:

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force on the 1st of May 1999 and the “communitarisation” of judicial cooperation in civil matters, the European Union has adopted many legal instruments relating to cross-border litigation, to the extent that one can now refer to a distinct “European International Private Law”, the governing principles of which have yet to be defined. By comparison, the French Code of Civil Procedure includes an entire chapter devoted to the governing principles applicable to civil trials. Based on a study of the European civil justice area, four governing principles can be identified: the adversarial principle, the principle of the judge’s active role, the principle of urgency and the principle of cross-border dialogue. In prospective terms, it follows that the possibility of these four principles’ being enacted in EU law is a matter worthy of examination. Several obstacles can be identified, none of which appears to be insuperable. Having been recognised as a possibility, such a consecration also seems desirable on the grounds of its several demonstrable advantages. The legal basis and vehicle of the above-mentioned four principles’ legal enshrinement remain to be determined. In this regard, article 81 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pertaining to judicial cooperation in civil matters, could serve as a legal basis. In terms of implementation, this study also argues in favour of regulations over directives.

More details available here.