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PART I GENERAL PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER II PARTIES
Section 1 Capacity to be Parties and Capacity to Litigate
Article 40
Any person who has legal capacity has the capacity to be a party.
A fetus has the capacity to be a party in an action concerning the entitlement of its interests.
An unincorporated association with a representative or an administrator has the capacity to be a party.
A central or local government agency has the capacity to be a party.
Article 41
Multiple parties, who have common interests and may not qualify to be an unincorporated association provided in the third paragraph of the preceding Article, may appoint one or more persons from themselves to sue or to be sued on behalf of the appointing parties and the appointed parties.
After the appointment has been made in a pending action in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph, all parties who are not appointed shall withdraw from the proceeding.
The appointed parties provided in the two preceding paragraphs may be substituted, increased in number, or cancelled. Such substitution, increase in number, or cancellation shall not take effect until after a notice of such action is served upon the opposing party.
Article 42
The appointment of representative parties, and the substitution, increase in number or cancellation thereof in accordance with the provision of the preceding Article, shall be evidenced in writing.
Article 43
When any of the parties who have been appointed in accordance with the provision of Article 41 has lost its capacity to sue due to death or for any other reason, the remaining appointed parties may continue to conduct the litigation for the entire body.
Article 44
The appointed parties may conduct all acts of litigation for the appointing parties, provided however that the appointing parties may restrict the appointed parties?authority to abandon claims, admit claims, voluntarily dismiss the action, or settle the case.
The restriction of authority imposed by one of the appointing parties shall have no effect with regard to the other appointing parties.
Any restrictions provided in the first paragraph shall be evidenced in writing as prescribed in Article 42 or submitted to the court by subsequent pleadings.
Article 44-1
Multiple parties with common interests who are members of the same incorporated charitable association may, to the extent permitted by said association's purpose as prescribed in its bylaws, appoint such association as an appointed party to sue on behalf of them.
Where an incorporated association initiates an action for monetary damages on behalf of its members in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph, if the entire body of the appointing parties agrees to allow the court to grant the full amount of a monetary award to them as a whole body and prescribes how such total award shall be distributed, and furthermore, if the entire body has filed a pleading to such effect, then the court may award a total sum of money to the entire body of the appointing parties without specifying the amount that the defendant must pay to each of the appointing parties respectively.
The provisions of Articles 42 and 44 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the circumstance provided in the first paragraph of this article.
Article 44-2
(1) When multiple parties, whose common interests have arisen from the same public nuisance, traffic accident, product defect, or the same transaction or occurrence of any kind, appoint one or more persons from themselves in accordance with the provision of Article 41 to sue for the same category of legal claims, the court may, with the consent of the appointed party, or upon the original appointed party's motion which the court considers appropriate, publish a notice to the effect that other persons with the same common interests may join the action by filing a pleading within a designated period of time specifying: the transaction or occurrence giving rise to such claim; the evidence; and the demand for judgment for the relief sought. Those persons so joining shall be deemed to have made the same appointment in accordance with the provisions of Article 41.
(2) Other persons with the same common interest may also move the court to publish the notice provided in the preceding paragraph.
(3) A written copy or photocopy of the pleading of joinder shall be served upon all parties to the action.
(4) The publication period of the notice provided for in the first paragraph shall be no less than twenty days. The same notice shall be posted on the court's bulletin board and the court's website. Where the court considers it necessary, the notice may be published in official gazettes, newspapers, or other similar means of communication. The expenses for such publication shall be advanced by the national treasury.
(5) When the appointed party provided in the first paragraph does not agree to such joinder, the court may, on its own initiative, publish a notice to inform other persons with the same common interests to initiate actions and then the court will consolidate the actions.
Article 44-3
An incorporated charitable association or a foundation may initiate, with the permission of its competent governmental business authority and to the extent permitted by the purposes as prescribed in its bylaws, an action for injunctive relief prohibiting specific acts of a person who has violated the interests of the majority concerned.
The Judicial Yuan and the Executive Yuan jointly shall prescribe regulations governing the permission provided in the preceding paragraph as well as appropriate supervision.
Article 44-4
In actions initiated in accordance with the provisions of the three preceding Articles, the court may, on motion, appoint an attorney as an advocate for the plaintiff.
The appointment of an attorney in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph shall be made only insofar as necessary for asserting or defending rights.
Article 45
Any person who has the capacity to undertake obligations through independent juridical acts has the capacity to litigate.
Article 45-1
If an assistant gives consent to a person, who has been declared requiring assistantship, to participate in a legal action, the consent should be evidenced in writing.
If a person, who has been declared requiring assistantship, participates in a legal action initiated or appealed by other parties, that person does not require his or her assistant's consent.
If a person, who has been declared requiring assistantship, participates in abandoning a claim, admitting a claim, voluntarily dismissing an action, or settling a case, his or her assistant must give special consent in writing.
Article 46
A foreign national who does not have the capacity to litigate under the law of its own country but who has the capacity to litigate under the R.O.C. law will be deemed to have the capacity to litigate.
Article 47
The provisions of the Civil Code and other laws and regulations will govern the authority of a statutory agent of a person without the capacity to litigate and the necessary approval to initiate an action.
Article 48
Any act of litigation conducted by a person who lacks capacity, authority as a statutory agent, or necessary approval to initiate an action, shall take effect retroactively from the occurrence of such action upon its ratification by a person who subsequently obtains the capacity or the authority as a statutory agent or the necessary approval, or by the statutory agent, or by the person who has authority to grant such approval.
Article 49
When there exists a correctable defect in one's capacity, the authority as a statutory agent, or the approval to initiate an action, the presiding judge shall order such defect to be corrected within a designated period of time. In such cases, when there exists a danger that delay will prejudice the party, the presiding judge may permit acts of litigation to be conducted pro tempore.
Article 50
The provisions of the two preceding Articles shall apply mutatis mutandis to a case where a party is appointed in accordance with the provisions of Articles 41, 44-1, and 44-2, and to a case where a person, who has been declared requiring assistantship, participates in a legal action in accordance with the provisions of Article 45-1.
Article 51
Any person who intends to conduct litigation against another person, but who is without the capacity to litigate and who does not have a statutory agent or whose statutory agent cannot exercise authority, may file a motion with the presiding judge to appoint a special representative for him/her when there exists a danger that delay will result in prejudice.
When a person needs to initiate an action but is without the capacity to litigate and does not have a statutory agent, or where the statutory agent cannot exercise authority, the relatives of such person or anyone who has a legal interest in such action may move for the presiding judge to appoint a special representative.
A ruling appointing a special representative shall be served upon the appointed special representative.
Except for such acts of litigation as abandoning a claim, admitting a claim, voluntarily dismissing an action, or settling a case, a special representative is authorized to conduct all acts of litigation for the party represented until the party's statutory agent or the party himself/herself assumes the action.
The expenses necessary for appointing a special representative and for the special representative to conduct acts of litigation may be ordered to be advanced by the movant.
Article 52
The provisions of this Code regarding a statutory agent's authority shall apply mutatis mutandis to the representative of a juridical person, the representative or administrator provided in the third paragraph of Article 40, the representative of a government agency provided in the fourth paragraph of Article 40, and a representative who has the authority to conduct acts of litigation according to the applicable laws and regulations.