Civil Law and Civil Procedure: Foundations and Exam Traps
The core map of civil law
Begin with the architecture of the Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek / Code civil). You must know the hierarchy of sources: the Code, specific statutes, general principles, and case law. Master the general law of obligations: the formation of contract (offer, acceptance, causa, capacity, consent free from error, fraud, violence, and lesion), the effects of contract (binding force, good faith, relativity of contract), and the modes of extinction (performance, novation, set-off, prescription). Know the distinction between contractual and delictual liability, and the elements of tort: fault, damage, and causal link, plus the rules on contributory negligence and joint liability. Property law requires command of ownership attributes, co-ownership, usufruct, servitudes, and possession rules. Family law: marriage regimes, divorce grounds and effects, filiation, and succession (intestate devolution, reserved shares, testamentary forms).
Procedure you must be able to trace
Civil procedure turns on jurisdiction (material and territorial), the writ of summons, the exchange of pleadings, the role of the judge in defining the dispute, evidence rules (burden of proof, admissible means, the role of written evidence and expert reports), interim measures, and appeal deadlines. Know the difference between a judgment's authority and its enforceability, and the grounds for third-party opposition and revision.
Traps
Questions often test the difference between nullity and unenforceability, between suspension and interruption of prescription, and between the judge's duty to rule and the prohibition of ultra petita. Watch for questions where a contract clause seems valid but is void for lack of cause or for violating public order.
Rule of thumb
For any obligation question, run the sequence: valid formation, proof, performance or breach, remedies, and prescription. For any procedure question, locate the competent court first, then the applicable deadline.