Role of the court-appointed expert

The CPC and the CJA allow the judicial and administrative courts to order an expert appraisal in two main situations: before any trial and during the course of proceedings.

• Before any trial, by the summary proceedings judge: "if there is a legitimate reason to preserve or establish, before any trial, the proof of facts on which the solution of a dispute could depend" (art. 145 of the CPC) or "to establish without delay the facts which could give rise to a dispute before the court" (art. R. 531-1 of the CJA). These are the so-called in futurum investigative measures, which could be called evidence preservation measures, as they aim to preserve, for the future, what could not be the subject of subsequent findings.

• In the course of proceedings, by the trial judge: this option is available...