mesures à caractère réel

English translation: land and property-related orders

08:28 Aug 22, 2020
French to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law: Contract(s)
French term or phrase: mesures à caractère réel
Promesse de vente

"I - Sanctions pénales
L’exécution de travaux sans respecter les obligations d’urbanisme (article L. 480-4 du Code de l’urbanisme) est un délit qui se prescrit dans un délai de 3 ans à compter de l’achèvement des travaux à la condition qu’aucun élément ne soit venu interrompre la prescription (comme un procès-verbal d’infraction).
Etant précisé que le nouveau délai de prescription est désormais de 6 ans depuis le 1er mars 2017, pour les infractions non encore prescrites.
En cas de condamnation, le Tribunal peut ordonner des mesures de restitution (condamnation à démolir ou à mettre en conformité), mesures à caractère réel qui se prescrivent par 30 ans."

related expression:

"b) Le constructeur ne pourra être condamné à des dommages et intérêts que si préalablement le permis a été soit annulé pour excès de pouvoir, soit déclaré illégal par la juridiction administrative.
L’action en responsabilité civile doit être engagée dans le délai de 2 ans après l’achèvement des travaux.
En outre, la violation d’une règle de droit privé (servitude, dispositions du cahier des charges d’un lotissement ou encore d’un règlement de copropriété) se prescrit par 10 ans ou 30 ans en fonction du caractère réel ou personnel de l'action intentée."

I assume this is "real" in the sense of "property-related". Wondering how this might be put in good legalese.
Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:49
English translation:land and property-related orders
Explanation:
I think these are the orders that a Court can impose rather than the proceedings themselves

You could say "real-estate related" for US/International English


Mesures à caractère réel
Chambre criminelle, 20 mars 2001 (Bull. n° 73)

La mise en conformité des lieux ou des ouvrages, la démolition de ces derniers ou la réaffectation du sol, prévues par l’article L. 480-5 du Code de l’urbanisme, constituent des mesures à caractère réel destinées à faire cesser une situation illicite, et non des sanctions pénales. Elles ne peuvent être prononcées à titre de peine principale.

https://www.courdecassation.fr/publications_26/rapport_annue...

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Note added at 12 hrs (2020-08-22 21:23:34 GMT)
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planning enforcement order enables an authority to take action in relation to an apparent breach of planning control notwithstanding that the time limits may have expired.

Enforcement and post-permission matters - GOV.UK

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Note added at 13 hrs (2020-08-22 22:08:37 GMT)
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Afterthought: land and property-related orders and notices (to incorporate e.g. enforcement notices
Selected response from:

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:49
Grading comment
thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1land and property-related orders
AllegroTrans
4 -1in rem measures
Eliza Hall
3 -2Real property proceedings
Felipe Jensen
Summary of reference entries provided
They're distinguished from penal sanctions
Eliza Hall

Discussion entries: 17





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Real property proceedings


Explanation:
I did some research and it does seem related to property. I found some articles and pages that mention "real property proceedings". However, as it is not my specialty field, I'll wait for the feedback from our peers.

Example sentence(s):
  • "we advise commercial and residential clients in all types of real property proceedings and transactions in [...

    https://www.vdmlaw.com/practice-vermont-real-estate-wills-estates.shtml
    https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-10/livpropertylawconference2018keynoteaddress.pdf
Felipe Jensen
Brazil
Native speaker of: Portuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  B D Finch: These are orders, not proceedings.
4 hrs

disagree  Eliza Hall: What BD Finch said. Also, everything in the text is about real property/land use--that's not the distinction "réel" is making here. See my reference below.
5 hrs
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
in rem measures


Explanation:
In EN law we use the Latin terms for different types of legal actions and remedies: in rem (actions against things/property) and in personam (actions against people): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_personam

In FR they use caractère réel and caractère personnel for the same thing:
https://justice.ooreka.fr/astuce/voir/671877/action-personne...

For instance, if a court orders a building to be torn down because it's not compliant with building codes, that's in rem. If a court orders the landowner to pay a fine because he had a building constructed that violated building codes, that's in personam. In rem/réel means about a THING (Latin: "res"), not just about real property -- if a court ordered a car to be destroyed, or a crate of cocaine confiscated from a drug smuggler, that would also be in rem.

The distinctions matter for various reasons: for instance, there might be different rules for serving notice (maybe you can post notice on a house that's condemned, whereas you would have to personally serve the landowner for an in personam action). Or as in Mpoma's text, the different types of legal actions might have different statutes of limitation.

Every text I've seen uses "mesures à caractère réel" to describe measures taken, or measures that a judge orders someone to take, in order to correct an existing violation of the law with respect to a certain property ("mesure à caractère réel destinée à faire cesser la situation illicite," or mesures, plural, will bring up a lot of examples if you look).

In other words, if XYZ property violates the law, and the court orders XYZ property to be destroyed (or brought into compliance, e.g., "structures that tall aren't allowed here so you have to demolish the top floor and lower the roofline"), the court has ordered mesures à caractère réel.

That type of order is distinguished from sanctions pénales, which are orders that the court issues for the purpose of punishing the person who has broken the law.

For instance, if you fine a landowner $X as punishment for building a house that doesn't comply with land-use regulations, that's a sanction pénale (and it is of caractère personnel, because it's punishing the person who owns the property). If you also order the landowner to have the house either torn down or rebuilt in compliance with the law, that is a mesure à caractère réel/. It's not to punish him, it's to ensure that the property stops being illegal.

Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 09:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 60

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  AllegroTrans: This is not the term used and 'measures' is a false friend. Pls see my DBox comment
4 hrs
  -> It's not the term used by planning authorities--but it is the term used by courts and by lawyers discussing these issues. "Mesures" can't always be translated as "measures," but in this case it can.

disagree  SafeTex: How can a contract be "in rem" and not "in personam" plus other points i've raised in the discussion
16 hrs
  -> A contract can't be in rem. Your question and comments show that unfortunately you just haven't understood what in rem means.

agree  Daryo: "en fonction du caractère réel ou personnel de l'action intentée" => it's clearly about the distinction between in rem (actions against things/property) and in personam (actions against people)// can't see what is wrong with using Latin.
2 days 19 hrs
  -> Thanks. You've hit the nail on the head here and in your discussion post. And any US/UK lawyer would agree with you that there's nothing wrong with using Latin in a legal text :)
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
land and property-related orders


Explanation:
I think these are the orders that a Court can impose rather than the proceedings themselves

You could say "real-estate related" for US/International English


Mesures à caractère réel
Chambre criminelle, 20 mars 2001 (Bull. n° 73)

La mise en conformité des lieux ou des ouvrages, la démolition de ces derniers ou la réaffectation du sol, prévues par l’article L. 480-5 du Code de l’urbanisme, constituent des mesures à caractère réel destinées à faire cesser une situation illicite, et non des sanctions pénales. Elles ne peuvent être prononcées à titre de peine principale.

https://www.courdecassation.fr/publications_26/rapport_annue...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2020-08-22 21:23:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

planning enforcement order enables an authority to take action in relation to an apparent breach of planning control notwithstanding that the time limits may have expired.

Enforcement and post-permission matters - GOV.UK

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 hrs (2020-08-22 22:08:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------


Afterthought: land and property-related orders and notices (to incorporate e.g. enforcement notices

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 527
Grading comment
thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  B D Finch
2 hrs
  -> thanks

neutral  Eliza Hall: Property-related is true but not clear enough/not the EN legal term used for this distinction. See my reference and answer.
3 hrs
  -> perfectly clear, ask any Planning Officer or conveyancing solicitor, licensed conveyancer or legal exceutive

agree  SafeTex: Yes, the French term has nothing directly to do with "in rem". They are very different things.
6 hrs
  -> thanks, but if we really have to Latinise then maybe "et quae ad ordines notitiam de terra et aedificia" ..... which would neatly avoid the contentious "in rem"

disagree  Daryo: how would that fit in this occurrence in this same ST: "en fonction du caractère réel ou personnel de l'action intentée" ???
2 days 23 hrs
  -> because it concerns orders relating to land and property
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Reference comments


7 hrs
Reference: They're distinguished from penal sanctions

Reference information:
"Mesures à caractère réel
Chambre criminelle, 20 mars 2001 (Bull. n° 73)

La mise en conformité des lieux ou des ouvrages, la démolition de ces derniers ou la réaffectation du sol, prévues par l’article L. 480-5 du Code de l’urbanisme, constituent des mesures à caractère réel destinées à faire cesser une situation illicite, et non des sanctions pénales. Elles ne peuvent être prononcées à titre de peine principale."

https://www.courdecassation.fr/publications_26/rapport_annue...

In other words, orders to fix the problem (such as by demolishing the noncompliant structure and rebuilding it in a way that complies with land-use regulations) are not penal sanctions--they're not punitive--they're just done to fix the underlying problem.

Lawyers care about these distinctions (whether something counts as a punishment or not, etc.) for various reasons. I don't know why French law cares about this particular distinction, but it could be something along the lines of this:

A court ordered a landowner to demolish a building that didn't comply with land-use regulations. The landlowner's lawyer argued, "You can't order me to do that, because the regulation I violated does not allow for penal sanctions." (Laws and regulations often set forth what penalties or remedies can and cannot be imposed when they're broken.) The court the concluded, "Ordering you to stop breaking the law isn't a penal sanction, it's just a mesure à caractère réel, so yes, we absolutely can order you to demolish the building."

Eliza Hall
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 60

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  AllegroTrans: This is all well and good but terms such as "penal sanctions" and "in rem measures" sound like translationese and not the admin/legal terms used in practice +you yourself say 'we can order you to demolish the building, so surely that's an order
5 hrs
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