GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Vassilios Moussas, Charalampos Kondis, Christina Grigoriadou and Konstantina Margariti, Moussas & Partners
7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases Jury trials are not available in civil cases, which are tried and decided exclusively by judges. 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence Under the new rules for ordinary proceedings, all evidence (including witness statements) is provided in advance of the hearing in writing. In principle, the court does not perform oral exami- nations of witnesses. The court will consider the case file and, if deemed absolutely necessary, the judge may issue an interim order for a subsequent hearing to examine witnesses. Each party has the burden of proving the facts that support its own claim or defence. Only facts that have a material bearing on the outcome of the case may be presented as evidence. Admissibility of evidence at trial depends on the type of evidence produced by each party. Documentary evidence is admissible provided the document has been issued pursuant to the rules governing the specific class of documents (eg, the document was issued by the appropriate authority), satisfies all prerequisites for its validity (eg, it bears the necessary signature, seal, etc), is legible, is not obliterated or mutilated, has no marks, and its substantive parts have not been altered in any other manner. Documents lacking any of the foregoing requirements will be inad- missible. Only genuine documents are considered as admissible evidence. Public documents issued by local or foreign authorities (and bearing the necessary certifications) are considered genuine
all evidence (including witness statements) must be provided in advance of the hearing and in writing. A hearing is scheduled after written pleadings and additional/counter pleadings have been filed and there is no oral advocacy or examination of witnesses. Once they have filed their written pleadings and evidence in a timely manner, the parties are considered properly present. Law 4842/2021 has introduced further changes to ordinary proceedings, providing the parties with the option to file additional written pleadings/ counter pleadings prior to the hearing. The court will consider the case file and, if deemed absolutely necessary, the judge may issue an interim order for a subsequent hear- ing to examine witnesses. By means of Law 4842/2021, provisions for ordinary proceedings have been embedded within the provisions for small claims’ proceedings, such as the quick setting of the date of the hearing – and limit- ing the options for calling off or postponing that hearing – in order to speed up the small claims’ procedure. Special Proceedings Special proceedings include matrimonial dis- putes, property disputes arising from lease agreements, labour disputes, disputes over the payment of fees and credit instruments, disputes over orders for payment and disputes on the sur- render of the use of the leasehold. In principle, other than the filing and servicing of the action, all procedures take place during the hearing in which the parties submit their pleadings and pre- sent the appropriate evidence. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Procedural laws do not provide for case man- agement hearings in any respect.
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