Civil law

The law firm GIACCARDI & BREZZO Avocats intervenes in all areas coming under civil law and private international law:

• Assets and ownership

• Contract law and civil liability

• Inheritance

• Assistance in trusts matters

• Recognition and enforcement of foreign legal acts and judgments

Monegasque civil law

The Civil Code of 21 December 1880 presents some provisions similar to the French Napoleonic Code and shares some of its fundamentals. If the Monegasque civil law was mainly inspired by French law, it presents however some differences.

These differences are even more significant since the adoption in France of the Ordinance No. 2016-131 of 10 February 2016 on the reform of contract law, the general regime and the proof of obligations.

Among the specificities of Monaco, it may be noted that the general rules of the Civil Code apply to relations between professionals and consumers in the absence of the Monegasque Consumer Code.

Only Title II of Law n° 1.383 of 2 August 2011 for a Digital Principality, as amended by Law n° 1.482 of 17 December 2019, provides specific guarantees in the context of e-commerce for distance contracts. Consumer contracts are also covered by Law No. 1.448 of 28 June 2017 on Private International Law, which protects the consumer against the application of a law that would be less protective than that of her/his State of residence.

It should be noted that the aforementioned Law No. 1.482 also amended the provisions of the Civil Code on (digital) contract and evidence, in particular with the transposition of “paper” contractual formalities to the electronic context, the modification of the conditions relating to the requirement of a plurality of originals, the facilitation of electronic archiving, and the overhaul of the evidentiary regime of copying.

The preponderance of foreigners in Monaco raises many private international law issues in the context of civil disputes.

The Law n° 1.448 of 28 June 2017 meets the needs of the 139 nationalities within the territory of the Principality, codifying the rules of the Monegasque private international law (jurisdiction of Monegasque Courts and law applicable to the status and capacity of natural persons, marriage, filiation and adoption, maintenance obligations, inheritance, contractual and non-contractual obligations).

The Principality of Monaco is also party to eight Hague conventions on private international law. It has recently ratified the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults.

With regard to family law, Law No. 1.440 of 5 December 2016 amended certain provisions of the Civil Code relating to the family name (devolution of the mother’s name, ‘name of use’), and Law No. 1.450 of 4 July 2017 has introduced the alternating residence and recast the provisions relating to family mediation.

In addition, Law No. 1.481 of 17 December 2019 introduced into the Civil Code the civil solidarity contracts (CCS) [contrats civils de solidarité], namely the common life contract (CVC) [contrat de vie commune], which recognises free union in the Principality, and the cohabitation contract (CDC) [contrat de cohabitation], which can be concluded between two members of the same family and living under the same roof.

Law No. 1.494 of 8 July 2020 created the offence of fraudulent organisation or aggravation of insolvency, which punishes fraud resulting from various acts of impoverishment carried out by the debtor in order to claim insolvency and thus prevent the recovery of the debt from his assets. The offence covers convictions handed down by the civil courts in matters of tort, quasi-delict or maintenance. By extension, judicial decisions and legally approved agreements imposing an obligation to pay benefits, subsidies or contributions to the expenses of the marriage are treated in the same way as orders for the payment of maintenance.

The law of the Principality has a remarkable characteristic in terms of trusts. The validity and the effects of a trust on Monegasque territory were recognized by Law No. 214 of February 27th, 1936, amending the Law No. 207 of July 12th, 1935, on Trusts.

The Monegasque Code of Civil Procedure has also evolved in recent years. The Law No. 1.401 of 5 December 2013 reformed the civil limitation periods.The Law No. 1.423 of 2 December 2015 made a major overhaul of the procedural nullities due to defects of form and substantive irregularity. It also put an end to the automatic nature of civil fines. Law No 1.511 of 2 December 2021 finally brought about a far-reaching reform of civil procedure, updating and introducing major innovations to the organisation and operation of civil proceedings, based on Monegasque judicial practice, and in some cases inspired by French civil procedure.

It should be noted that Law No. 1.421 of 1 December 2015 on various measures on State responsibility and remedies has introduced a procedure for the reopening of civil proceedings in the event of a decision of the EHCR finding a violation to the European Convention on Human Rights or its additional protocols.