Judgment, Res Judicata and Lis Pendens

This chapter discusses judgments and judicial settlements. For the purpose of the European Rules of Civil Procedure, a judgment is a decision, which finally resolves the matter by deciding the claim on either the merits, dismisses the proceedings on procedural grounds, or which decides a preliminary procedural issue or a specific legal issue on the merits. A decision finally resolves the matter if proceedings in which the decision was rendered cannot continue before the court where they have been instituted. This includes judgments that finally resolve the matter with respect to a part of the claim for relief or one or more of several, but not all claims for relief brought in one and the same proceeding. It does not encompass case management orders or orders that regulate evidence-taking. It is, however, a matter of the court's discretion whether to render a judgment on specific procedural issues or on specific legal issues on the merits that finally determine particularly important incidental issues, which may then be subject to the appellate process. The chapter also considers the goals of the Rules relating to lispendens and to res judicata.