Preamble

Article 647 – Arguments and Judgment - The hearing of the suit shall be conducted with the intervention of the collective court. If the questions of fact are decided by a single judge, when it ought to have been decided by the collective court, the decision shall be annulled. The findings of the collective court on the questions of law shall be deemed to have not been written.

Article 648 – Time for study of file - Upon the production of evidence that shall take place

before the hearing of the arguments and adjudication, or on the expiry of the period fixed in the letters of request, the judge shall allow the advocate of each of the parties, a period of 5 to 10 days for examination of the file. At the end of this period, a day shall be designated for hearing and decision of the suit. Article 649 – Study of file by judges - Before the arguments, each of the associate judges shall examine the file for 5 days, save if the judge decides that the same is dispensable in view of the simplicity of the suit.

Article 650 – Requisition or designation of technical expert - When the matter of facts gives rise to difficulties of technical nature, the solution of which depends on special knowledge which the court does not have, the judge may requisition the presence of a specialized functionary or, in his absence, appoint a competent person who may attend the hearing and render necessary clarifications. The disqualification and reclusion apply to such technical persons, the same way as apply to the

experts. The requisition, as a rule, be made by an order that shall fix a day for hearing and decision. Such technical persons shall be paid the expenses for travel in advance. Article 651 – Powers of Presiding Judge - The President of the court enjoys all the necessary powers to make the hearing brief and purposive and the decision in the suit just. He is competent, in particular, to: 1. Conduct the proceedings; 2. Maintain order and enforce respect for the institutions in force, the laws, and the court; 3. Take necessary steps for the suit to be conducted with dignity and order; 4. To encourage, with the greatest courtesy and politely, the advocates and the Public Ministry to curtail their applications and submission when they are manifestly excessive, and to confine it to the matter of the suit, and withdraw the liberty when they do not comply with the exhortations; 5. To bring to the notice of the advocates and the Public Ministry the need to clarify certain obscure or doubtful points. See also Article 155 of this Code. Article 652 – Adjournments - The hearing shall be taken up, at the fixed time, after the presence of the persons summoned. But, it may be adjourned: 1. If it is not possible to constitute the collective court. 2. If any person who has been summoned is absent and he cannot be dispensed with, save if his appearance appears probable in the course of the hearing and it is not inconvenient to hear him at the stage when he appears; 3. If the document is offered which the opposite party needs to examine, save if the examination could be made in the very act, suspending the proceedings for some time; 4. If any of the advocates remain absent for a just and unforeseen reason. § 1: Adjournment is not permissible by agreement between the parties, neither can the hearing be adjourned more than once due to absence of advocate. § 2: What is provided in clause (2) is without prejudice what is provided in paragraph 1 of article 634, as regards the prohibition of second adjournment due to the absence of witnesses.

Article 653 – Procedure at the hearing – If there is no reason to adjourn the arguments the

following order shall be observed: a) The President shall give an opportunity first to the advocate for the plaintiff and then to the

advocate for the defendant for each one of them to explain, with great precision and clarity, the case of client in the suit. The advocates shall briefly explain the case of the parties and the grounds that serve as its base. The president may make observations that he thinks convenient. b)Thereafter the personal depositions of the parties shall be proceeded with ; c)The examinations and arbitrament having taken place, the questions and the answers given by the experts shall be read and they shall give clarifications that are asked from them; d)This shall be followed by examination of the witnesses; e)Upon the examination, the arguments shall commence. The president shall give an opportunity to the advocate for the plaintiff to make his oral submissions and, thereafter, in the same way, to the advocate for the defendant. Each advocate may reply once. In the submissions, the advocates shall make a critical examination of the evidence produced, shall seek to demonstrate which findings of facts stand established and shall address on the legal aspects of the matter and which fact may be considered as proved applying the law to the facts. f)The court may, at any stage, before the arguments, during them or thereafter, hear the specialized functionary or the technical person so ordered; g)Upon the arguments, the President can formulate new queries, when he considers them indispensable for the proper decision in the suit. The court shall assemble at the conference hall to decide. If the discussion is not sufficiently clear, he may return to the court room and hear the persons as he deems fit; he may also order any steps which he considers indispensable. The factual aspects shall be decided by means of a judgment. Among the facts referred to in the questionnaire, the judgment shall declare what facts the court finds to be proved or not proved; but shall not pronounce in respect of facts proved by admission or agreement between the parties, by authentic or authenticated document, or by the private documents referred to in article 542. The judgment shall be drawn by the President, without noting the negative opinion. The president, upon the judges returning in the court room, shall read the judgment; h)Upon reading, any of the advocates may object against the deficiency, obscurity, or contradiction in the decisions passed. The objection has to be filed immediately;

i)There being objections, the court shall assemble afresh to pronounce in respect of such objections. No further objections shall be admissible against the decision passed from such objections, but, there being appeal, the superior court may ex officio annul the decisions of the collective court, when such decisions are considered deficient, obscure, or contradictory. § 1: The persons who have been heard cannot remain absent without authorization from the president, such an authorization shall not be granted when there is opposition from the associate judges, from the Public Ministry, or from the advocates. § 2: The advocate may be interrupted during the oral submissions either by the president, or by the advocate of the opposite party, but in this case only with his consent and with that of the president. The interruption has to have as it aim the clarification or the rectification of any affirmation. See Article 650, article 69, sole paragraph of the Judicial Statute. Article 654 – Requirement of full attendance by all judges - Only the judges who participate in all the acts of judicial inquiry and arguments conducted at the hearing or hearings of arguments and adjudication can intervene in the decision on the matter factual aspects. § 1: If during the arguments and adjudication, any of the judges expire or is permanently incapacitated, all the acts already performed shall be repeated; the incapability being temporary, the adjudication shall be adjourned for a time that is indispensable, unless the circumstances suggest preference to repetition of the acts already performed. § 2: The judge who is transferred, promoted or retired shall complete the adjudication, except if the retirement has its ground the absolute incapacity, physical or moral, for exercise of the charge. The substitute judge shall continue the intervention, notwithstanding the return to service of the effective judge. See Article 67 of the Judicial Statute

Article 655 – Freedom in adjudication - The collective court adjudicates according to its

conviction, formed upon free appreciation of evidence, in order to reach to the decision that appears just to it. But when the law demands any special formality for the existence of or the evidence of a juridical act or fact, the same cannot be dispensed. Article 656 – Continuity of hearing - The hearing shall be continuous; it may only be interrupted by force majeure or by reason of absolute necessity. It not being possible to conclude

the arguments and adjudication in only one day, the president shall fix the continuation for the following day or the next, in a manner that between the start of the proceeding and the adjudication, normally, an interval of more than 10 days does not pass, and in no case more than 20 days, even if for this the court has to function on vacations or on holidays. Article 657 – Secret hearing - In the suits referred in a first part of the second period of article 167, the hearing shall be secret and the depositions, if they are written, shall not be used after the adjudication.