Provisional Enforcement in the Algerian Code of Civil and Administrative Procedure, as Amended and Supplemented

Abstract

Provisional enforcement constitutes one of the most significant exceptions to the general rule under which a judgment may not be compulsorily enforced until ordinary means of recourse have been exhausted or their time limits have expired. Under Algerian law, the legislator has allowed, in specific cases, the attachment of enforceability to a first-instance judgment despite its being open to opposition or appeal. This study examines the regime of provisional enforcement under Law No. 08-09 containing the Code of Civil and Administrative Procedure, as amended and supplemented: its concept and legal basis, its forms and cases as between what is granted by operation of law and what is left to judicial discretion, and its procedural rules and safeguards, foremost among them the objection to provisional enforcement provided for in Article 324, together with the rule of Article 326 barring any recourse against decisions ruling on such objection. It concludes that, although the Algerian legislator has relatively succeeded in balancing judicial efficiency with the protection of the judgment debtor, Article 323 still requires redrafting, notably by adopting the criterion of serious harm resulting from delayed enforcement, and by regulating the security and restitution of the parties to their former position.