Abstract

The plea for set-off under Art. 5054 § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply both to a situation when the defendant invokes a set-off made prior to the contentious proceedings and to a case when set-off is connected with an act under substantive law - a statement of a set-off. This conclusion is also supported by the comparison of the content of the abovementioned provision to Art, 493 § 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which explicitly refers to submission of a motion for a set-off rather than the plea for set-off. Art. 493 § 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure seems to be of a substantive law nature as it prohibits set-off without referring to legal events that took place before the proceedings. Art. 5054 § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, on the other hand, is procedural in nature as it does not interfere with the effectiveness of set-off under substantive law but only prohibits reliance on this fact in simplified proceedings. In conclusion, the ban on raising a plea for set-off in simplified proceedings should be considered to apply to the set-off of the receivable which is not fit to be settled in those proceedings, irrespective of the fact whether set-off was made by the defendant before or during the civil proceedings as a substantive legal act of the defendant.