Article 62: Scope of an attorney's authority

Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section

1. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4548/2562 (2019)

   An advocate must have express authority from the client to exercise the right of appeal under section 62. An appeal signed by an advocate without that authority is defective, the equivalent of an appeal bearing no signature of the party, and the trial court must order the defect cured under section 18; dismissing the appeal outright instead is wrong and unjust.

   W., the plaintiff's advocate, signed as appellant although the letter of appointment did not give him authority to appeal on the plaintiff's behalf. The Supreme Court held the appeal was defective, the equivalent of an appeal without the plaintiff's signature, so the trial court should have ordered the defect cured under section 18 before accepting it, and accepting it without doing so was an irregular proceeding under section 27 paragraph one. The Court of Appeal Region 3 should have directed the trial court to have the plaintiff sign as appellant and then proceed; dismissing the appeal outright was wrong and unjust. As the plaintiff's later letter of appointment gave W. authority to appeal, the defect had by then been cured and nothing further was needed.

2. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4303/2558 (2015)

   Because an attorney has authority under section 62 to conduct proceedings for the party, the attorney's knowledge of a hearing date and of the court's order binds the party even if the party personally did not know.

   The defendant's attorney knew of the date to hear the appellate judgment and of the order to pay additional fees but did not inform the defendant. The Supreme Court held that under section 62 the attorney's knowledge bound the defendant, who could not rely on his own ignorance as an excuse, since he had an attorney acting for him.

3. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 3457/2564 (2021)

   An attorney appointed by a party has authority under section 62 paragraph one to conduct the case and take procedural steps to protect the party's interests, but steps that dispose of the party's rights require express authority.

   Applying section 15 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which borrows the Civil Procedure Code where applicable, the Supreme Court quoted section 62 paragraph one on the scope of an attorney's authority in deciding whether the appellate court was right to dismiss the first defendant's appeal.

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