I assume you are working on a contract? If so, it would be "legal dispute." If this is an article about the judicial process, on the other hand, you'd want to use "litigation."

In a contract, you usually use "provision," "clause" or "stipulation," although "article" could be used, too. First choice: "provision." I'm not familiar with the use of "item."

This is what I would use

Litige = litigation, suit, dispute at law, depending on the context. However, I would go for "Litigation" in your case. Or, if you want, "Legal Dispute".

Proceeding has a broader signification

or: legal dispute, lawsuite, legal action.
article: article of a contract, for instance. Not 'Item' as it means an object.

...I'd use for the heading of the Article/Section (as said before, Section is one possible translation of Article).

In the text, however, I'd use "In case of any legal dispute arising from the present [OR: from this] Agreement, French law shall apply."

HTH
Steffen :-)

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Note added at 2002-12-11 16:13:16 (GMT)
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\'as said before\' was meant to read \'as said in my answer to your question regarding \'visées\'.

I agree wholeheartedly with Paula's simple straightforward answer.

Looking back at my peer grading comments, my remark to Steffen's answer seems harder than I meant it to be!

Contractual provisions relating to jurisdiction, applicable law and disputes generally are sometimes dealt with under one, two or three clauses in a contract. There are separate translations for each :

litige : disputes
loi applicable : applicable law
juridiction : jurisdiction

The first one is the most general and sometimes, but not always covers the other two. The second and third often overlap. A clause on applicable law generally states that the contract is governed by the law of country X. In French contracts jurisdiction generally states to which court (e.g. Tribunal de Commerce de Paris) any matters shall be referred if an amicable agreement cannot be reached. Note that in the UK, a clause headed "Jurisdiction" generally makes provision for which country's law shall apply.

So, the word "litige" refers to the handling of disputes generally, amicably, out of court, arbitration etc... It may include provisons as to which law shall apply, and state which court any unresolved disputes shall be referred to. Never the less, the heading is "disputes".