Title VII: Of the Joinder of Issue

The object or matter of the judgment is constituted by the joinder of issue itself, or the formal contradiction of the defendant to the petition of the actor, made with the intention of litigating before the judge.

For the joinder of issue no solemnity is necessary, but it suffices that, when the parties appear before the judge or his delegate, the petition of the actor and the contradiction of the defendant are inserted in the acts, from which it is established concerning what matter is at issue, or what are the terms of the controversy.

Yet in more involved causes, in which the petition of the actor is neither clear nor simple or the contradiction of the defendant abounds in difficulties, the judge, from office or at the instance of the actor or defendant, is to cite the parties for duly defining the articles of the controversy, that is, for agreeing upon the doubts of the cause, as it is said.

§ 1. If on the day appointed for agreeing upon the doubts, the party called into court does not appear and does not allege a just excuse for absence, he is to be declared contumacious, and the formula of doubts is to be established from office, with the party who was present requesting it. But this is immediately to be made known from office to the contumacious party, so that he can propose whatever exceptions he wishes against the formula of doubts or articles and purge himself of contumacy, within the time which seems suitable to the judge.

§ 2. When the parties are present and agree in the formula of doubts or articles, if the judge, as far as concerns himself, has thought that nothing must be excepted, mention of this fact is to be made in the decree by which the formula is confirmed.

§ 3. But if the parties disagree or their conclusions are not approved by the judge, the judge himself is to settle the controversy by decree.

§ 4. Once the formula of doubts or articles has been established, it cannot be changed except by a new decree, from a grave cause, at the instance of a party, or of the promoter of justice, or of the defender of the bond, either both parties or one party having been heard and his reasons having been weighed.

Before the joinder of issue has taken place, the judge is not to proceed to the reception of witnesses or other proofs, except in a case of contumacy, or unless it is necessary to receive the deposition of witnesses lest, because of the probable death of the witness, his departure, or another just cause, it cannot afterward be received, or can be received only with difficulty.

Once issue has been joined:

1° It is not lawful for the actor to change the libellus unless, with the defendant consenting, the judge, from just causes, thinks the change must be admitted, with compensation of damages and expenses always saved to the defendant, if any is owed. The libellus is not considered changed if the mode of proof is narrowed or changed; if either the petition or accessories of the petition are diminished; if factual circumstances previously put in the libellus are so illustrated, completed, or emended that the object of controversy remains the same; if in place of the thing a price, interest, or something equivalent is sought.

2° The judge is to prescribe a suitable time for the parties for proposing and completing proofs; this indeed he can prorogue at his own judgment when the parties insist, provided that the litigation is not prolonged beyond what is equitable.

3° The possessor of another's thing ceases to be of good faith; wherefore one condemned to restore the thing is bound to restore not only the thing itself, but also the fruits of the thing from the time of the joinder of issue, and moreover to repair damages, if any have followed.