Commissaire de Justice in France: The Bailiff Explained

In France, the officer who serves court papers, enforces judgments, and draws up formal reports is still widely known by the old name huissier de justice (a French bailiff or process server). Since 1 July 2022 that title has been folded into a single new profession, the commissaire de justice (judicial officer). Most people, and most search queries, still use the word huissier, so this page uses both terms and explains what the role actually covers today.

The change came from ordonnance n° 2016-728 of 2 June 2016, which merged two older professions, the huissier de justice and the commissaire-priseur judiciaire (a judicial auctioneer), into one. The merger began on 1 July 2022 and completed on 1 July 2026, after which only the single title commissaire de justice remains in use. This page sits in the RecordingLaw guide to French consumer and debt rights, part of our wider coverage of law in France.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page presents general legal information, not legal advice.

From huissier de justice to commissaire de justice

The profession most people call the huissier de justice has a new name. Under ordonnance n° 2016-728 of 2 June 2016, the huissier de justice and the commissaire-priseur judiciaire were combined into one profession, the commissaire de justice. The single profession launched on 1 July 2022, and the old titles are fully phased out as of 1 July 2026.

The name changed, but the core function did not. A commissaire de justice remains an officier public et ministériel, a private professional to whom the State delegates specific public powers. That status is what lets the officer perform acts that carry legal force, such as formally serving a court document or carrying out a seizure ordered by a judge.

For readers, the practical point is simple. If a letter, a website, or a person refers to a huissier, they mean a commissaire de justice. The powers and duties described below apply under either name.

What a commissaire de justice does

The role covers four main types of work. The first is service of legal acts, known as signification. When a court decision, a summons, or a payment order must be formally delivered so that it takes legal effect, a commissaire de justice carries out that delivery and records proof of it.

The second is enforcement. Once a creditor holds an enforceable title, the commissaire de justice is the officer who executes it: garnishing wages, seizing bank accounts or movable property, or carrying out an eviction ordered by a court. This is the stage where a debt on paper becomes a real recovery action.

The third is the constat, a formal factual report. A commissaire de justice can record the state of a property, note a nuisance, document damage, or capture the content of a web page at a given moment. A constat carries strong evidential weight before a court because it is drawn up by a public officer.

The fourth is amicable debt recovery (recouvrement amiable), where the officer contacts a debtor to seek payment before, or instead of, any court action. This activity is open to competition, so it is not exclusive to commissaires de justice.

Alongside these four, a commissaire de justice can also act as a court-appointed sequestrator or liquidator, deliver certain protests over unpaid commercial instruments, and carry out judicial sales of movable goods. The common thread is that the officer combines a private practice with delegated public authority, which is why documents and reports produced by a commissaire de justice carry a legal weight that an ordinary agent's paperwork does not.

Monopoly acts versus competitive acts

Not everything a commissaire de justice does is reserved to the profession. The distinction matters because it tells you when only a commissaire de justice can act, and when others may do the same work.

The monopoly (reserved) acts include serving legal documents, enforcing court decisions and other enforceable titles, and conducting certain judicial sales of movable property. These flow from the officer's public authority and cannot lawfully be carried out by an ordinary agent.

The competitive (open) acts include drawing up constats, amicable debt recovery, and acting as a court-appointed sequestrator or liquidator. Here a commissaire de justice competes with other professionals, and the choice of who to instruct is broader.

A commissaire de justice cannot act without a title

This is the safeguard readers most often overlook. A commissaire de justice cannot simply decide to seize your wages or empty your bank account. Forced enforcement requires a titre exécutoire, an enforceable title recognised by law.

The most common titles are a court judgment and an injonction de payer (a summary payment order) that has become final because the debtor did not oppose it in time. You can read how that title is obtained on our page about the injonction de payer, and how one common enforcement then works on our page about wage garnishment.

Until a creditor holds such a title, a commissaire de justice may only pursue amicable recovery: letters and calls asking for payment. Those approaches carry no power to seize anything. A demand that threatens immediate seizure without a court title behind it should be read with care.

What a commissaire de justice costs

Fees for the monopoly acts are set by a regulated national tariff, not chosen freely by the officer. The tariff distinguishes the fixed and proportional charges that can apply to service of documents and to enforcement measures.

Who ultimately pays depends on the act. The cost of enforcing a debt is generally charged to the debtor and added to the sum owed, while some steps a creditor requests are borne by the creditor. Because the amounts follow a published schedule, a debtor can ask for a breakdown of any charge added to their balance.

Checking that a commissaire de justice is genuine

Because the role carries real powers, it is worth confirming that a person claiming to be a commissaire de justice actually holds the office. Every practising commissaire de justice is registered with the profession's national body, the Chambre nationale des commissaires de justice, which maintains a public directory.

If you receive a demand referring to a huissier or commissaire de justice, you can check the officer's name and office against that directory and against the court or creditor named in the document. This is also a defence against scam letters that borrow the language of enforcement to pressure payment for debts that do not exist.