Civil law

The European Commission wishes to make training material available which will be helpful both to legal practitioners for their own use and to the trainers of legal practitioners as a resource for their work in the field of civil law.

Training modules (material for trainers and course organizers)

Cross-border divorce and maintenance: jurisdiction and applicable law

Parental responsibility in a cross-border context, including child abduction

The European small claims procedure

Training material (text documents)

Introduction to mediation in the EU (European Commission)

E-learning courses

Cross-border divorce and maintenance: jurisdiction and applicable law (European Commission)

Parental responsibility in a cross-border context, including child abduction (European Commission)

Aspects of European civil justice legislation (European Judicial Training Network – EJTN)

The judge in the European judicial area in civil and commercial matters" (Spanish judicial training school)

Training curricula

Civil justice matters recommended by the European Judicial Training Network – EJTN

Language training

Handbook on 'language training on the vocabulary of judicial cooperation in civil matters' (European Judicial Training Network – EJTN)

The training modules include:

  • a guide for trainers and training providers, containing information and advice on how to organise a workshop delivering the training module, information on the programme and the teaching methods to be employed, the training material, related EU legislation and jurisprudence, related international Conventions, other related materials (e.g. reports, information notes), a general bibliography and a national section with information on relevant Member States’ legislation and jurisprudence; practical exercises (case studies) with suggested solutions (for use in workshops) and examples of PowerPoint presentations;
  • a user's pack for legal professionals, comprising the relevant EU legislation, a short presentation of the Member States' national legislation and a bibliography; and
  • an e-learning course for legal professionals.

Training modules (material for trainers and course organizers)

Cross-border divorce and maintenance: jurisdiction and applicable law

The training module is structured as a ‘training package’ and includes the necessary material for running a workshop on EU cross-border divorce and maintenance, with thematic units on: cross-border divorce jurisdiction and procedure, cross-border divorce applicable law, cross-border maintenance – jurisdiction, applicable law and maintenance recovery procedures and EU initiatives in the area of matrimonial property regimes.

The guide for trainers is available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

The user's pack contains a presentation of relevant EU legislation PDF (217 Kb) en, a short presentation of the national legislation of all EU Member States PDF (5728 Kb) en, a bibliography PDF (7688 Kb) en and an e-learning course.

Parental responsibility in a cross-border context, including child abduction

The training module is structured as a ‘training package’ and includes the necessary material for running a workshop on parental responsibility, with thematic units on: cross-border parental responsibility, procedure in family matters, preliminary ruling procedure in family matters and family mediation.

The guide for trainers is available in English, Italian, Greek, German, Spanish and French.

The user's pack contains a presentation of relevant EU legislation PDF (420 Kb) en, a short presentation of the national legislation of all EU Member States PDF (5239 Kb) en, a bibliography PDF (7535 Kb) en and an e-learning course.

The European small claims procedure

The training module is structured as a ‘training package’ and includes the necessary material for running a workshop on the European small claims procedure, with thematic units on: the EU legal framework on small claims, the ESCP: launching the claim and defence and judgment and a consolidated case study.

The guide for trainers is available in English, German and French.

Training material (text documents)

Introduction to mediation in the EU (European Commission)

This introduction to the main aspects of mediation in the EU PDF (238 Kb) en has been produced for the Commission as part of a series of training workshops on mediation aimed at legal practitioners.

E-learning courses

Cross-border divorce and maintenance: jurisdiction and applicable law (European Commission)

This e-learning course complements the training module on 'cross-border divorce and maintenance: jurisdiction and applicable law'. It is available in English , German, French, Spanish and Italian.

Parental responsibility in a cross-border context, including child abduction (European Commission)

This e-learning course complements the training module on 'parental responsibility in a cross-border context'. It is available in English, German, French, Spanish Italian and Greek.

Aspects of European civil justice legislation (European Judicial Training Network – EJTN)

The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has created online training modules in English which are accessible to all interested legal practitioners on its website. The areas covered include:

  • parental responsibility and the Brussels II bis regulation;
  • the European order for payment procedure; and
  • creating a European order for uncontested claims.

The only requirement for access is the creation of a user account.

The judge in the European judicial area in civil and commercial matters" (Spanish judicial training school)

The e-learning course on "the judge in the European judicial area in civil and commercial matters" elaborated by the Spanish judicial training school in 2011-2012 is available in Spanish and in German.

Training curricula

Civil justice matters recommended by the European Judicial Training Network – EJTN

The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has developed training curricula in civil justice matters which serve as basic reference documents of and help to govern the design and planning of training activities for EJTN members.

The curricula cover European civil and procedural law, labour, commercial and consumer law. They are not a textbook on the topics covered but are designed as a practical and usable guide for immediate application and training. They are regularly updated.

The curricula are available to all interested trainers and judicial training providers on EJTN's website together with a European Civil Forum Handbook for trainers.

Language training

Handbook on 'language training on the vocabulary of judicial cooperation in civil matters' (European Judicial Training Network – EJTN)

The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has developed a practical handbook on language training for vocabulary in the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters. This is a compilation of the most relevant training materials used during a series of three seminars organised on the topic in 2013. It is aimed at judges or public prosecutors wishing to develop their linguistic skills in this field. The handbook is available in English (1st part of the document) and French (2nd part of the document) here.

Related link

European Judicial Training Network (EJTN)

Last update: 07/10/2020

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