Article 272: Issuance of the decree

Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section

1. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4380/2568 (2025)

   A decree may issue only where the court has rendered a judgment or order requiring execution against a judgment debtor; where no such judgment was made against a person, that person is not a judgment creditor or debtor and cannot use the case to obtain or resist execution.

   The court explained that a decree, being the order directing a judgment debtor to comply, presupposes a judgment requiring execution against that debtor under Sections 272 and 273. Because the court had not ordered the three defendants to return or pay for the property, the joined plaintiff was not a judgment creditor and had no right to enforce in that case; any loss had to be pursued in a separate action.

2. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 2232/2567 (2024)

   Striking the criminal case off the cause list because the defendant has died does not carry the civil part with it: under section 47 paragraph one of the Criminal Procedure Code the civil claim survives, and so does the judgment on it. A decree issued under Section 272 requiring compliance with that civil judgment is therefore lawful and is not an irregular proceeding.

   The defendant died while seeking an extension of time to appeal, so the right to prosecute lapsed under section 39 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and the criminal case was struck off. The Supreme Court held the civil part was unaffected: the claims made for the injured party under sections 43 and 44/1 of that Code survived, the defendant's lawyer kept authority to protect the defendant's interests under Civil and Commercial Code section 828 until an heir or representative came in, and no one did so within the year allowed by Section 42. The plaintiff could therefore proceed to execution, and the decree issued on 1 September 2564 requiring compliance with the civil judgment within fifteen days was lawful.

3. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 10731/2558 (2015)

   In civil cases the judgment creates the judgment debt and the court must issue a decree; but where judgment is given by default and the court cannot issue the decree on the judgment day because the debtor is absent, it falls to the judgment creditor to file a statement asking the court to issue the decree.

   By a Grand Chamber resolution, the Supreme Court held that once a civil judgment creates a judgment debt the court must issue a decree fixing the method, period, and conditions of compliance under Section 272. Where the debtors lost by default and the court could not issue the decree on judgment day, it was the judgment creditor's duty to file a statement with the trial court so the decree could be issued.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.