Procedures
A French-modelled code, a juge de paix and French magistrates on secondment
Monégasque civil procedure follows the Code de procédure civile, modelled on French law. The juge de paix handles the smallest claims, the Tribunal de première instance is the ordinary first-instance court, and appeal lies to the Cour d'appel and then the Cour de révision.
Key rules
- The juge de paix hears small civil claims and acts as conciliator.
- The Tribunal de première instance is the ordinary court of first instance in civil and commercial matters.
- Appeal lies to the Cour d'appel, and a further appeal on points of law to the Cour de révision.
- The Tribunal Suprême rules on constitutionality and on administrative disputes, and hears rights complaints.
- Limitation periods follow the Monégasque Civil Code, which tracks the pre-2008 French scheme rather than the reformed French periods.
Governing law
- Code de procédure civile monégasque
- Code civil monégasqueModelled on the French Civil Code; limitation follows the older French scheme
- Constitution of 1962 as revised in 2002Establishes the Tribunal Suprême
In practice
The most important practical point is that Monaco is not France and its law has diverged. Because the codes share an ancestor, practitioners reach for current French provisions by reflex — but France reformed its limitation regime in 2008 and its civil procedure repeatedly since, while Monaco did not follow every step, so a French limitation period applied to a Monégasque claim can be wrong. Judicial officers are frequently French magistrates serving under a bilateral convention, which makes French doctrine influential without making French statute applicable.