Facts
This decision concerns a public law appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Fribourg regarding the admissibility of the objection in debt collection proceedings for bills of exchange. The main factual elements are as follows: - The dispute opposes Ch. to D. in the context of debt collection proceedings for bills of exchange. - The Court of Appeal applied its case law on the prohibition of "true nova" in the appeal procedure against the bankruptcy judgment (Art. 174 DEBA) to the appeal procedure against the decision on the admissibility of the objection in the debt collection proceedings for bills of exchange. - This led the Court of Appeal to declare inadmissible: - The plea of prescription of the bill of exchange (Art. 1069 CO) raised for the first time on appeal; - The partial payments made by the appellant before the decision at first instance, considered as "pseudo-nova".Considerations
The main legal issue is whether the admissibility of "nova" (new facts) in the appeal procedure against the decision on the admissibility of the objection in debt collection proceedings for bills of exchange is exclusively a matter of cantonal law, or whether there are federal rules on the matter. The Federal Tribunal considers that, according to case law and part of the doctrine, the notion of "nova" in this type of appeal is governed by the cantonal law of procedure, which determines…