Special Law: the Constitutional Court enters Book 7 of special contracts

The Belgian Official Gazette (Moniteur belge) of October 29, 2026 (2nd edition) publishes the special law of October 19, 2026, which amends the law of July 22, 2026, inserting Book 7 “Special Contracts” into the Civil Code, regarding the Constitutional Court. The text bears the reference C − 2026/007940 and appears on page 58309 of the official journal. It was sanctioned and promulgated by King Philippe in Brussels on October 19, 2026.

The law of July 22, 2026 (C − 2026/005775, published in the Moniteur belge of September 23, 2026, p. 51211) inserted Book 7 “Special Contracts” into the Civil Code and amended Books 1, 5, 8, and 9 of the same Code, as well as various other laws. This book profoundly reforms the law of specific contracts: sale and exchange, lease, service contracts, mandate, etc. Article 50 sets the date of entry into force as the first day of the twelfth month following that of publication, namely September 1, 2027, with certain articles benefiting from a shorter period.

The special law of October 19, 2026, therefore intervenes even before the entry into force of Book 7, to correct an incomplete enumeration.

An insertion of four words in Article 7.2.5

Article 2 of the special law provides that, in Article 2 of the law of July 22, 2026, in Article 7.2.5 of the Civil Code, the words “of the Constitutional Court,” are inserted between the words “the clerks,” and the words “of the judicial order.”

Article 7.2.5, titled “Litigious Rights,” prohibits a series of holders of jurisdictional functions from purchasing litigious rights when proceedings are pending before the jurisdiction to which they belong. The list notably includes:

• magistrates and law clerks;
• prosecution lawyers;
• magistrates in training and candidate magistrates;
• clerks of the judicial order and the deputies of all these persons.

The sanction is severe: absolute nullity of the sale and compensation for damages. Based on paragraph 2, the prohibition also extends to lawyers, judicial officers, and notaries who became aware of the dispute in the exercise of their duties.

A legislative project carried out in three stages

The correction of October 19, 2026, is added to a first adjustment adopted two months earlier. The law of August 27, 2026 (C − 2026/006598, Moniteur belge of September 24, 2026, p. 51371) had already completed the same Article 7.2.5, by inserting the words “of the Council of State and the administrative jurisdictions” between “of the judicial order” and “and the deputies.”

Both texts follow the same logic: to align the regime of purchase incompatibilities across all jurisdictions in the country, and not only within the courts and tribunals of the judicial order. The law of August 27, 2026, fell under Article 78 of the Constitution; the law of October 19, 2026, falls under Article 77, which explains the use of the special law procedure, with the reinforced majorities it entails.

An entry into force aligned with that of Book 7

Article 3 of the special law provides that it shall enter into force “on the day referred to in Article 50, paragraph 1, of the same law.” In practical terms:

• the law of July 22, 2026, was published in the Moniteur belge on September 23, 2026;
• its Article 50 sets the entry into force on the first day of the twelfth month following publication;
• the correction of October 19, 2026, therefore takes effect on September 1, 2027, at the same time as Book 7.

No separate transitional regime is created: the corrected version of Article 7.2.5 will apply from the outset, without a period during which the clerks of the Constitutional Court would have escaped the prohibition.

Practical scope for contractual disputes

For practitioners, the issue goes beyond pure legislative technique. Article 7.2.5 conditions the validity of assignments of litigated rights and certain transfers of contested claims: a deficient enumeration would have left doubt regarding the absolute nullity of sales concluded with clerks of the constitutional jurisdiction, and the corresponding action for damages.

Since the insertion was made into the founding law of Book 7, and not by an autonomous provision, the numbering and structure of the Civil Code remain intact: no renumbering, no new articles, and no modifications to the other books. Commentators and code publishers will nevertheless have to integrate this comma into their consolidated versions of Article 7.2.5.

The scope of the reform remains limited: it modifies neither the scope of the persons referred to in paragraph 2 (lawyers, bailiffs, notaries), nor the regime of nullity, nor the substantive rules of Book 7. It does, however, complete the institutional coverage of the mechanism, just over ten months before the entry into application of the reform of the law of special contracts.

Source: Moniteur belge, October 29, 2026, 2nd edition, C − 2026/007940, p. 58309.