Mali Huissier Concours common mistakes
Mali Huissier Concours · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reciting the conditions of the saisie-vente and the saisie-attribution as identical lists, without distinguishing which biens each reaches, who holds the funds, and which act triggers the opposition, then applying the wrong regime to a fact pattern involving a bank account.
Candidates memorize the OHADA voies d'exécution as a single block of 'conditions, procedure, contestation' and revise from summary tables where the distinctions between saisies collapse; the AUPSRVE articles on saisie-attribution (declaration by the third-party holder, effect attributive immediate) and saisie-vente (apprehension of tangible property, formalities of custody) are learned as parallel lists rather than as different mechanisms.
What to do instead
Rebuild each saisie as a chain: titre exécutoire, signification, acte de saisie, tiers détenteur or gardien, délai de contestation, effets, mainlevée. For each, write one sentence on what is seized, one on who is the interlocutor, one on the effect on the debtor's patrimony, and one on the sanction for irregularity. Then solve ten short fact patterns aloud, naming the correct saisie before naming its conditions.
Treating the signification à personne and the signification à domicile (or par remise à l'étude) as interchangeable, and drafting a exploit d'huissier without verifying the mentions prescrites, the domicile réel versus élu, and the date of the act.
Because signification is rehearsed as a formality rather than as the act that starts delay periods and conditions opposability, candidates skip the checking routine under time pressure and reproduce templates that omit the mentions required by the code de procédure civile and the statut of the huissier.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed checklist applied to every draft: identification of the requérant and the huissier, domicile réel and domicile élu, mode of remise, date and heure, signature, mention of the copy left, and the énonciation of the titre. Practise by producing three exploits in full (personne, domicile, étude) and having each checked line by line against the checklist before comparing to the model answer.
Confusing the régime of the cautionnement with that of the garantie autonome and the hypothèque, and answering a sureties question by listing all three without saying which one is accessory, which survives the debtor's insolvency, and which requires inscription.
The AUS organizes sûretés personnelles and sûretés réelles in separate titles, and revision notes often flatten them into a single 'sûretés' chapter; candidates then reproduce definitions instead of reasoning about accessoire, subrogation, and the effect of the procédure collective on each.
What to do instead
Build a comparison grid with rows for cautionnement, garantie autonome, nantissement, hypothèque and privilèges, and columns for caractère accessoire, formalités de publicité, recours contre le débiteur, sort en procédure collective, and extinction. Then answer one problem question per row, forcing yourself to eliminate the wrong sûreté explicitly rather than merely describing the right one.
Answering a procédure collective question by describing the déroulement of the procedure (ouverture, syndic, vérification des créances, clôture) without stating the sort of each créance, the date of cessation des paiements, and the consequences for the individual debtor or dirigeant.
The AUS is long and candidates learn it as a narrative sequence, so the analytical reflexes (fixation de la date de cessation des paiements, déclaration des créances dans le délai, sort des sûretés, action en comblement du passif) are never practised as separate steps.
What to do instead
For every procédure collective problem, answer in a fixed order: qualification of the créance (antérieure ou postérieure, garantie ou chirographaire), date de cessation des paiements and its contestation, obligation de déclaration and its délai, then responsabilité des dirigeants. Write the order on the first line of your draft and follow it mechanically.
Mixing the régimes of the société anonyme and the SARL when answering questions on capital, organes, and cession de parts, or citing the AUDCG provisions on sociétés commerciales without identifying the correct form of société in the question.
Candidates revise company law by theme (capital, assemblées, responsabilité) rather than by form of société, and the AUDCG's unified text encourages the assumption that one rule covers all forms; the result is answers that apply SARL rules to an SA or ignore the commissaire aux comptes thresholds.
What to do instead
Make one table per form of société (SARL, SA, SAS, SNC, société en participation) with capital minimum, organes de gestion et de contrôle, règles de cession, and régime des décisions collectives. Before writing, underline in the fact pattern the words that identify the form and the applicable national law, then answer only within that column of the table.
Confusing the compétence of the juge administratif with that of the juge judiciaire in a mixed fact pattern (contrat administratif, voie de fait, dommage causé par un ouvrage public, agent public fautif) and answering with a general 'the administrative judge is competent' without the reasoning on the critère.
The répartition des compétences is learned as a list of exceptions rather than as a set of criteria (service public, prérogatives de puissance publique, voie de fait); under exam pressure candidates jump to the conclusion and omit the criterion that decides the case.
What to do instead
Practise the 'two-step' answer: first identify the critère (contrat administratif by clause exorbitante or service public, voie de fait by atteinte grave à une liberté ou à la propriété), then the juridiction, then the recours (excès de pouvoir or plein contentieux). Do ten short qualification exercises where the only thing graded is the criterion sentence.
Treating the Code domanial et foncier as a single statute of property and answering questions on immatriculation, titre foncier, and droits coutumiers without distinguishing the domaine public, the domaine privé de l'État, and the propriété privée immatriculée.
The code is technical and procedural, and candidates read it as a general law of land rather than as a law of the public domain and of the registration of private rights; they then confuse the régime of the titre foncier with that of the acte de vente or the permis d'occuper.
What to do instead
Draw a decision tree: is the land in the domaine public, the domaine privé, or private property? For each branch, list the act that creates the right (arrêté de classement, permis d'occuper, bail, titre foncier), the authority competent, and the mode of proof. Redo the tree from memory weekly and test it against five short fact patterns involving occupation and cession.
Answering a droit du travail question with general principles (liberté de travail, droit de grève) without applying the Code du travail's rules on qualification of the contrat, motif légitime de licenciement, and the délai de préavis, or ignoring the sécurité sociale aspects of an accident du travail.
Candidates treat labour law as a set of principles to be recited and do not practise the qualification of a contrat de travail or the chronology of a licenciement; the sécurité sociale part is often skipped entirely because it appears in a separate code.
What to do instead
For each labour problem, write the qualification first (contrat de travail or not, CDD or CDI, motif), then the procedure (entretien, notification, préavis, indemnités), then the sécurité sociale point (accident du travail, déclaration, réparation). Keep a one-page chronology of a licenciement and a one-page chronology of an accident du travail, and reproduce both from memory before each mock exam.
Writing a note de synthèse or a rédaction professionnelle as a sequence of paraphrased documents, without an introduction stating the problem, without a plan announced, and without the formal marks of a procès-verbal or a exploit (identification, énonciation des faits, dispositif).
Candidates prepare substantive law and treat the rédaction as a formality, so they reproduce the documents in the order given rather than reorganizing them around a question; the professional acts are written from memory of a template rather than from a model structure.
What to do instead
Practise a fixed skeleton for each exercise: for the note, problème, annonce du plan, deux ou trois parties, conclusion; for the procès-verbal, identification, constatations in chronological order, déclarations, signature. Time yourself on one note and one act per week and grade only the skeleton and the transitions, not the legal content, until the structure is automatic.
Answering questions on the statut de l'huissier de justice and déontologie by reciting the conditions d'accès to the profession while omitting the incompatibilités, the secret professionnel, the tarification des actes, and the disciplinary régime.
The statut is often revised as a short chapter at the end of the programme and candidates learn only the nomination and the monopole; the déontologie questions then look unfamiliar and are answered with generalities about probité and impartialité.
What to do instead
Build a one-page fiche with four blocks: accès et nomination, incompatibilités et interdictions, devoirs (secret, conseil, tarif, comptabilité), discipline (autorité, sanctions, recours). For each block, write one concrete scenario of a breach and the sanction or consequence, so the rule is attached to a behaviour rather than to a list.