Civil Law and Civil Procedure
Scope of the domain
The civil-law section tests the 1997 Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Code as one working system. The Civil Code follows the German-Swiss pandectist model and is arranged in five books: general part, obligations, property, family and inheritance. Questions usually ask you to classify a claim, identify the correct defendant and court, apply a limitation period and state who bears the burden of proof.
Core rules
- A juridical act is interpreted by the parties' true intention, not only by literal wording. Error, fraud, duress, simulation and violation of law can make a transaction void or voidable.
- Ownership claims are distinguished from possession claims. The owner may demand return of a thing from an unlawful possessor; a separate negative action protects against interference that does not involve dispossession.
- The general limitation period is three years. Limitation is applied on the defendant's objection, not by the court on its own motion. Acknowledgment of the debt or filing a claim interrupts the period.
- Under the Civil Procedure Code each party proves the facts on which it relies. The court assesses evidence freely but must give reasons.
- First instance is the district or city court, appeal lies to the Court of Appeal, and cassation to the Supreme Court. Cassation is not a third factual instance: admissibility depends on a fundamental legal question or the need for uniform application of law.
Worked example
Bank A sues Borrower B for 20,000 GEL under a loan agreement. B pleads that the three-year limitation period expired. A produces a signed letter in which B, eighteen months before suit, asked for a two-month extension because of temporary difficulties. The first-instance court dismisses B's objection. Reasoning: the letter acknowledges the debt and interrupts limitation, so the three-year period begins to run again. On appeal B argues that the appellate court wrongly assessed credibility. The appellate court may re-examine evidence, but the Supreme Court will not substitute its view of facts unless the lower courts made a fundamental legal error. A's claim is timely.
Traps
Candidates lose marks by retrying facts in cassation. Another common error is treating limitation as a point the judge must raise ex officio. Do not merge a vindicatio with a contractual damages claim: the defendant, burden and limitation analysis differ. In procedure, check the exact statutory deadline and the court through which an appeal must be filed.