Seconda, collective intelligence to elevate your legal expertise
A month with Seconda
Welcome to the Seconda newsletter!
As every month, we share our latest news and that of our Secondants, we open up the debate on a legal issue and we introduce you to a work, a place or a person, connected with the world of law, that has left a mark on us and that we recommend to you !
Enjoy the read and all your feedback is welcome!
What's new at Seconda?
A wonderful 2026!
Dear readers,
For those who haven't received them yet, we send you our best wishes for the new year!
May 2026 be rich in exciting projects, filled with lively discussions, sincere encounters, unforgettable moments, groundbreaking ideas, and projects that bring people together.
May health, courage and energy accompany you to meet challenges, defend your convictions and savor every victory, big or small.
And of course, may this year allow us to continue building strong bonds, based on trust, care and the desire to dream big, together!
As you know, Seconda is above all the strength of the collective, so, as every year, we have brought together the Secondants to wish you the best for this new year.
Seconda is on TV!
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On December 16th, Fred-éric was a guest of Arnaud Dumourier and Le Monde du Droit on the LEX INSIDE program on BSMART 4Change.
This interview was an opportunity to highlight the importance of collective intelligence in the age of AI, but also to describe how we put it at the service of legal professionals at Seconda.
Fred-éric was also able to explain in detail how humans are still essential to listen to and understand customer needs and why AI does not replace human expertise but complements it by taking over repetitive tasks.
You can find the full exchange here.
Moussa Thioye , Professor of Private Law at Toulouse Capitole University, works in all areas of real estate law.
Secondant of the Month
Ce mois-ci, nous vous présentons Moussa Thioye !
Professeur de droit privé à l’Université Toulouse Capitole, doyen de la Faculté d’Administration et Communication, directeur honoraire du Master Droit de l’immobilier, professeur associé à l’Université Laval (Canada) et responsable pédagogique de la licence AES délocalisée au Vanuatu… Moussa jongle entre enseignement, recherche et projets internationaux.
Le Vanuatu, c’est la pluralité sous toutes ses formes : langues, cultures, croyances, sources du droit… Un territoire où des normes de tous horizons se croisent– morales, juridiques, religieuses, économiques, scientifiques.
C’est dans ce cadre unique que Moussa a orchestré le colloque sur la Norme à Port-Vila, réunissant juristes, linguistes, sociologues et géographes pour une réflexion interdisciplinaire. Les Actes du colloque viennent d’ailleurs tout juste d’être publiés
Ses chantiers ? Une 5ᵉ édition du Droit des intermédiaires immobiliers chez LexisNexis, un fascicule sur les contrats d’intégration agricole, un nouveau cours de droit de la construction en Master 1, et un projet stratégique mû par une grande ambition pour la Faculté d’Administration et Communication : faire évoluer la Faculté d’Administration et Communication en École, à l’image de l’École de droit de Toulouse créée en 2024.
« Passer de faculté à école, c’est gagner en liberté pédagogique et en capacité d’innovation », explique-t-il.
Moussa prépare aussi un colloque en juin 2026 à Tours sur l’originalité des droits africains influencés par le droit français.
« La question sera finalement de savoir dans quelle mesure et par quels moyens il serait possible de parvenir à des droits africains originaux, déliés de l’influence systématique du droit français » nous explique-t-il.
Enfin, toujours à l’affût des dernières jurisprudences, Moussa signe un commentaire à paraitre sur le mandat immobilier et la loi Hoguet intitulé : « Pas de nullité sans grief du mandat de l’agent immobilier: un principe qui bouscule ».
Et de lancer, avec un sourire : « Arrêt retentissant, certes… mais est-ce le fruit d’une banale distraction judiciaire ou la source d’un revirement jurisprudentiel ? ».
Polyvalent, engagé, Moussa est un Juriste qui nous rappelle que le droit n’est jamais figé !
The dossier of the month
Context
A firm specializing in public law has one of its oldest and most important clients who holds a public project management contract concluded with a public institution.
Various events (significant changes to the initial program, strengthening of environmental requirements, disruptions due to delays by the project owner, etc.) have led to an extension and a more complex task for the project manager, resulting in longer deadlines and an increase of almost double the estimated cost of the work.
Faced with these upheavals, and even though the nature of the contract has not been substantially modified, the parties are considering concluding an amendment which would have the effect of substantially modifying the initial market price.
Question(s)
Is it possible (i) to conclude such an amendment in accordance with the rules of public procurement law, without having to organise a new advertising and competitive bidding procedure (ii) or, at the very least, to update the remuneration of the holder of the project management contract within the framework of the contract in force?
> Deliverable
A concise note that…
recalls the rules applicable to the remuneration of the project manager and the possible conditions for its modification;
applies these rules concretely to the specific case;
offers practical advice based on the analyses presented.
Timeframe/Cost
8 working days / €4,600 excluding VAT
Question of the month
The real right of special enjoyment
This month, we offer you an exploration of property law!
October 31, 2012. The Maison de Poésie I ruling deals a definitive blow to the supposed principle of numerus clausus of real rights: "subject to rules of public order, the owner may grant a real right conferring the benefit of a special enjoyment of his property".
This real right, not provided for by law, is referred to in legal doctrine as: "real right of special enjoyment".
In concrete terms, according to case law, this right may relate to the enjoyment or occupation of premises by a foundation, the enjoyment by a network manager of an electrical transformer, or even the enjoyment of a golf course by a company.
What is the significance of this concept in relation to the real rights provided by law?
First, unlike easements, the real right of special enjoyment can be established for the benefit of a person and not a property.
In particular, while the usufruct or right of use granted to a legal entity is limited to 30 years by articles 619 and 625 of the civil code, which are of public order, the real right of special enjoyment is not subject to this limit.
Why? Because the right granted is…special, in that it relates only to a particular use of the property, unlike usufruct and the right of use.
Toutefois, ce caractère spécial n’apparaît pas clairement dans les arrêts retenant l’existence de ce droit.
Plus encore, on se demande, à la lecture du code civil, pourquoi le « droit réel de jouissance spéciale » n’est pas rangé dans la catégorie légale des droits d’usage.
Précisons que le droit d’usage ne se limite pas nécessairement au droit d’user de la chose mais peut s’étendre au droit d’en percevoir des fruits. Or, les articles 628 et 629 prévoient que l’étendue des droits d’usage est fixée « par le titre qui les a établis » et que ce n’est que « si le titre ne s’explique pas sur l’étendue de ces droits » qu’ils sont réglés par les articles 630, 631 et 635.
La loi ne permet-elle pas ici d’instituer un droit d’usage portant sur une utilité particulière de la chose, à l’instar précisément de ce qu’est censé être le « droit réel de jouissance spéciale » ?
La consécration du droit réel de jouissance spéciale a-t-elle finalement une autre raison d’être que celle d’échapper à la limite de 30 ans ? Le doute est permis.
En tout cas, cette question a le mérite d’en faire jaillir une autre, qui est celle de la légitimité de cette limite temporelle.
Les rédacteurs du code civil ont voulu interdire l’instauration perpétuelle d’une propriété divisée, au nom de l’absolutisme du droit de propriété. Soit. Mais la liberté contractuelle et la liberté pour chacun de disposer de ses biens ne justifient-elles pas que les parties puissent fixer une limite supérieure à 30 ans ?
Avo-plumes ! Le débat est ouvert.
Our Secondants in the news
Pierre-Claver Kamgaing
In the December 2025 issue of the journal Les Cahiers de droit - Faculté de droit de l'Université Laval, Pierre-Claver delivers an inspiring article on "Voluntary Loss of Nationality in Cameroonian Law".
On this subject which is particularly close to his heart, Pierre-Claver takes a critical look at this issue, analyzing it both on a substantive and a procedural level.
Pierre-Claver notably takes a position on the issue of the admission of dual nationality for Cameroonian women married to foreigners, which divides Cameroonian legal doctrine.
This article is an opportunity to rediscover all the qualities of Pierre-Claver, both teacher and lawyer, and especially his expertise in OHADA law.
His article can be found here.
Thibaut Larrouturou
Thibaut Larrouturou is the Secretary General of the René Cassin European Human Rights Competition. This competition has been bringing together more than one hundred and fifty students from all over Europe in Strasbourg every year for more than forty years now.
They argued on several occasions, in the premises of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, on a practical case focused on the law of the Convention.
This year, the case study, straight from the imagination of our Secondant, focuses on the climate action of States, with a reflection mirroring current litigation (Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland judgment of April 9, 2024): what if, rather than being held accountable for their climate inaction, States implemented some of the measures advocated by the scientific community and were therefore brought before the Court?
The stage is set for the pleadings of tomorrow's lawyers, from March 24 to 27.
And as an added bonus, for trainee lawyers, a new Louis-Edmond Pettiti eloquence prize on March 24th!
A film, an exhibition, a restaurant…
The exhibition is also an opportunity to rediscover this exceptional place that is the Pantheon with its eternal occupants.
The exhibition "Justice: Robert Badinter at the Heart" pays tribute to one of the major architects of the rule of law in France.
Through photographs, audiovisual excerpts, personal objects and emblematic works, mostly from the collection of Robert Badinter , the exhibition retraces his battles which have marked our legal history: the abolition of the death penalty in 1981, which is the culmination of a long journey which he had begun by leading as a lawyer in the Assize Court, but also the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1982 or his decisive reforms to humanize the prison.
The journey highlights the vision of a lawyer committed to fundamental freedoms.
We also discover that, as a great admirer of Condorcet, he co-wrote with his wife, Élisabeth Badinter, a book dedicated to the philosopher, and that, when he was president of the Constitutional Council, Robert Badinter defended the possibility for any litigant to challenge the constitutionality of a law: the seed of the Priority Question of Constitutionality (QPC), which came into force in 2010, was sown there.
This exhibition is not merely a tribute: it is a reflection on justice as a democratic value, on the power of principles in the face of fear and ingrained habits. It reminds us that the law is alive and that it can be an instrument of progress.
The main criticism that can be made of this exhibition is that it is far too short to do justice to the life of this Mensch.
Thank you for reading.
That's all you need to know for this month, see you next month!
And to make sure you don't miss anything, remember to subscribe , for those who haven't already!
See you very soon!
Fred-Eric and Neda
