MONACO Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephan Pastor, Emeline Elbaz-Mondeux and Xavier Widawski, CMS Monaco
9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment Monegasque judgments are served by a bailiff, who may proceed to enforcement measures once the judg- ment is enforceable. A Monegasque judge may impose a penalty to encourage the condemned party to fulfil its obliga- tion as quickly as possible. Even if not provided by the judgment, if the con- demned party does not execute the judgment within the delay, the victorious party can go back to court and ask for judicial penalty payment. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country Foreign judgments must be recognised by Mone- gasque courts before being enforceable in Monaco. The courts do not rule on the merits of the case, and only check the following conditions as per Monaco’s Code on Private International Law: • that the judgment has been ruled by a competent jurisdiction; • that the rights of defence have been respected; • that the recognition of the judgment is not mani- festly contrary to Monegasque public policy; • that the judgment is not contrary to another deci- sion previously ruled in Monaco between the same parties (this includes a previous foreign judgment already recognised in Monaco); and • that a dispute is not currently pending before a Monegasque court (seized first) between the same parties. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation For civil and commercial matters, the main mecha- nisms of review are: • appeal ( appel ); • opposition by a third party ( tierce opposition ) – ie, a review mechanism for third parties regarding a judgment that is prejudicial to their rights; and
• request for review ( pourvoi en revision ) – ie, a review mechanism on matters concerning breach- es of the law that can generally be lodged against any decision rendered at last instance and having the force of res judicata. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments An appeal may be lodged by a party against judg- ments given at first instance. An appeal should be lodged: • to the Court of Appeal ( Cour d’Appel ) for judg- ments handed down at first instance by the First Instance Tribunal ( Tribunal de Première Instance ), or by the Labour Court ( Tribunal du Travail ), and against judgments given at first instance by the Justice of the Peace; and • before the Court of First Instance, for arbitration awards in civil matters and for judgments reserved to it by law. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal For civil and commercial contentious matters, an appeal is lodged by the appellant’s counsel by decla- ration to the court registry. The time limit for lodging an appeal is 30 days from the date of service of the judgment, unless the law provides otherwise. The appellant also has 30 days from the expiry of that time limit to state, by summons, the reasons for appealing against the decision that they are contest- ing. Please note that, once an appeal has been lodged, the respondent in appeal can file for an appeal themselves in mere written form. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal An appeal can target the entire first-instance decision or be limited to parts of it. It consists of an exami- nation of the first-instance judgment in so far as the appellant submits to the court only the parts of the judgment that they criticise. The appeal procedure is a new trial, with writing issued back and forth; when the judge finds that the case is ready, a final hearing
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