Amentments in Civil Procedure Law

The amendment regime was fully put into practice with the adoption of Turkish Code of Civil Procedur (No: 1086) on Civil Trial Procedures (CCTP). There is no amendment regime in the legal systems of civil law countries. As for the Common Law Legal System, they apply an amendment system that is similar to Turkish Legal System despite not overlapping completely. As the ban on the alteration or extension of the claim or defense is not applied as strictly as our system in the Legal Systems of Continental Europe, there is no need for amendment in these legal systems. The amendment regime as applied in our legal system currently was initially regulated under between articles 83-90, CCTP No: 1086. Unlike Code No: 6100 on Civil Procedures (CCP), the correction of factual errors have not been regulated in the same chapter. As for CCP No: 6100, amendment has been regulated in Articles 176-182. Amendment is a right that is exercised upon the unilateral declaration of will and is granted only once to the relevant parties in a single trial. It is of crucial importance that the parties of a lawsuit exercise this right bestowed on them with due diligence during the trial process. Particularly during the period when CCTP No: 1086 was in force, amendment was perceived by the implementers as merely a process of enhancing the value of the trial. However with the entry into force of CCP No: 6100, Article 109 paragraph two which regulates partial trials blocked the means of filing a partial case. Following the annulment of Article 109 paragraph two of CCP No: 6100 through Article four of Law No: 6644 dated 01.04.2015, the number of partial trials started to increase gradually and amendment was once again used intensively. This dissertation analyses the implementation of amendment in the historic process, the practice of altering or extending the claim and defense in the Anglo-American and Continental Europe Legal Systems as well as amendment and similar other regimes in these legal systems, amendment conditions, particularly the implementation and comparison of amendment in uncertain dept action which were introduced into Turkish legal system with the adoption of CCP No: 6100, the implementation of amendment in partial cases in particular, whether amendment can be applied after a reversal decision –which is a long-standing debate in Turkish legal system and a comparison of various judgments handed down by the Turkish Court of Cassation in this field, the circumstances where amendment cannot be applied as well as actions to be taken by courts in case of mala fide amendments. In this analysis, comparative law has been taken into consideration. This paper, which has been prepared in the format explained above, makes recommendations notably on the implementation of the amendment system, compares it with other regimes and provides a set of recommendations and comments on the implementation of amendment in other trial procedures. Keywords: Amendment, Inquiry, Enlarging and Changing of Claim and Plea, Case,