Law of France

Legislation is seen as the primary source of French law. Unlike in common law jurisdictions, where a collection of cases and practices (known as the "common law") historically form the basis of law, the French legal system emphasizes statutes as the primary source of law. Legislative sources French legislative sources can be classified into four categories: then government regulations. French courts consider the French Constitution to be superior to international treaties, including EU treaties and EU law. This is in contrast to EU institutions, which sees EU law as superior to the laws of member states. Legislation There are several categories of legislation: • Organic statutes (Lois organiques) are laws on areas specified in the Constitution, like presidential elections and the status of judges. This political reality meant that Parliament's legislative domain has been, in practice, expanded to include any important topic.56 and the fact that they develop judicial doctrine, especially through jurisprudence constante (a consistent set of case law). There is no law prohibiting the citation of precedents and lower courts often do. Although the highest courts, the Court of Cassation and the Council of State do not cite precedents in their decisions, previous cases are prominent in arguments of the ministère public and the commissaire du gouvernement, in draft opinions, and in internal files. Some areas of French law even primarily consist of case law. For example, tort liability in private law is primarily elaborated by judges, from only five articles (articles 1382–1386) in the Civil Code. Scholars have suggested that, in these fields of law, French judges are creating law much like common law judges. Case law is also the primary source for principles in French administrative law. The differences between French case law and case law in common law systems appear to be: (1) it is not cited in the highest courts; While judges do consider practical implications and policy debates, they are not at all reflected in the written decision. This has led scholars to criticize the courts for being overly formalistic and even disingenuous, for maintaining the facade of judges only interpreting legal rules and arriving at deductive results. In theory, codes should go beyond the compilation of discrete statues, and instead state the law in a coherent and comprehensive piece of legislation, sometimes introducing major reforms or starting anew. In 1989, the French government set up the Commission Supérieure de Codification, tasked with codifying laws. The Commission has worked with ministries to introduce new codes and codify existing legislation. Unlike the transformative Civil Code under Napoleon, the goal of the modern codification project is to clarify and make more accessible statutes in by compiling one code in a particular area of law and remove contradictions. Despite this, areas very often overlap and codes necessarily cannot contain all of the law in a given field. == History ==

In the High Middle Ages, most legal situations in France were highly local, regulated by customs and practices in local communities. Historians tend to be attracted by the large regional or urban customs, rather than local judicial norms and practices. and in Paris. Historians traditionally mark a distinction between Pays de droit écrit in southern France and the Pays de droit coutumier in the north. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the Minister of Finance and later also Secretary of the Navy in charge of the colonial empire and trade, was main architect of the codes. there would be a constant struggle between royal legislation, traditional conceptions of the law of the Realm (customs and Roman law), and parliamentary arrêts de règlements (regulatory decisions). Even before the French Revolution, French enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, with a theory of natural rights, and especially Montesquieu, who advocated for a separation of powers, were major influences on the law throughout Europe and the United States. However, not all the old regime's law were repleted, the articles 110 and 111 of the 1539 Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts being the oldest still in use in the French legislation. ==Private law==

The term civil law in France refers to private law (laws between private citizens, and should be distinguished from the group of legal systems descended from Roman Law known as civil law, as opposed to common law. The major private law codes include: • The Civil Code, • The Code of Civil Procedure, • The Commercial Code, and • The Intellectual Property Code. Civil procedure France follows an inquisitorial model, where the judge leads the proceedings and the gathering of evidence, acting in the public interest to bring out the truth of a case. This is contrasted with the adversarial model often seen in common law countries, where parties in the case play a primary role in the judicial process. The court gathers a dossier of pleadings, statements of fact and evidence from the parties and makes it available to them. Proceedings focus on written evidence and written argument, with brief hearings. The Court of Cassation (highest civil appellate court) generally only decides questions of law and remands the case for further proceedings.'' Criminal procedure After a crime occurs, the police make initial investigations. but decisions on searches and phone-tapping are often delegated to the police because of limited judicial resources. There are also simplified procedures for crimes in flagrante delicto and crimes relating to terrorism and drugs. Other judges then preside at the criminal trial, typically without a jury. However, the most serious cases tried by the cour d’assises (a branch of the Court of Appeal) involve three judges and nine jurors who jointly determine the verdict and sentencing. Like civil proceedings, criminal proceedings focus on written evidence and written argument, although witnesses are usually also heard orally. Judges or prosecutors order independent experts for the proceeding, if necessary. One appeal can be made on questions of fact and law, save for decisions of the cour d’assises. Appeals may also be made to the Court of Cassation on questions of law. Other judges (the juge de l’application des peines) supervise the sentence and deal with parole. == Public law ==

Public law is concerned with the powers and organization of the state and governmental bodies. Constitutional law French constitutional law includes not only the Constitution itself, but also its preamble which incorporates a list of norms known as bloc de constitutionnalité, including the "Freedom of Association" provision of the Conseil Constitutionnel. • Rights listed in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen: including classical liberal rights on individual freedom, right to property and contract, and equality. • Rights in the 2004 Charter for the Environment: including abstract principles such as the principle of sustainable development. The President, Prime Minister, the presidents of both houses of Parliament, and a group of 60 members from either of the two houses may refer bills or treaties to the Constitutional Council. French public bodies include governments and public organizations or enterprises, subject to different sets of rules, with both privileges and additional limitations compared to private actors. All acts must have a legal basis (base légale), follow the right procedure (sometimes including right to a hearing), and done with a purpose to further public interest. and interpret the law. Such acts include the President to launch nuclear tests, sever financial aid to Iraq, dissolve Parliament, award honors, or to grant amnesty. Other nonjusticiable acts include certain internal affairs of government ministries (Mesures d’ordre interne), e.g. the decision to alter the frequency of services, unless doing so is against the law. Administrative procedure Before judicial recourse, one may request administrative appeals (recours préalable) by the official or his superior, although they are of limited use. Legal aid is available like in civil and criminal cases, although lawyers are unnecessary in many cases because under the French inquisitorial legal system, judges have primary control of cases after their introduction. All administrative decisions must be challenged within two months of their being taken and no waiver is possible for lapses. To begin a case, an individual only need to write a letter to describe his identity, the grounds of challenging the decision, and the relief sought, and provide a copy of the administrative action; legal arguments are unnecessary in the initial stage. A court rapporteur will gather information (he has the power to request documents from the public body), compile written arguments from both sides, and request expert assessments if necessary. The files and the rapporteur's recommendations are transferred to a Commissaire du gouvernement, who also makes his own recommendations to the judges. Written evidence is relied upon and oral hearings are extremely short. After the hearing, judges deliberate and issue their judgement, in which they will briefly respond to parties' arguments. Standing requirements in French administrative law are relatively lax. Although merely being a taxpayer is insufficient, those affected in a "special, certain and direct" manner (including moral interests) will have standing. In addition, users of public service can generally challenge decisions on those services. Associations can also have standing in some circumstances. == European Union law ==

The French Constitution specifically authorizes France's participation in the European Union (EU), an economic and political union with many legal powers. The Constitution has also been amended, as required by the Constitutional Council, to allow EU citizens to participate in municipal elections and the monetary union. The European Union adopts laws on the basis of EU treaties. The Treaties establish the EU's institutions, list their powers and responsibilities, and explain the areas in which the EU can legislate with Directives or Regulations. European Union laws are a body of rules which are transposed either automatically (in the case of a regulation) or by national legislation (in the case of a directive) into French domestic law, whether in civil, criminal, administrative or constitutional law. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is the main judicial body of EU laws. The EU's view is that if EU law conflicts with a provision of national law, then EU law has primacy; the view has been gradually accepted by French courts. == Judicial institutions ==

French judicial system French courts go by a number of names, including , tribunal, and cour.'' There are also non-professional judges, typically in less serious civil or administrative cases. Members of the Constitutional Council do not necessarily have legal or judicial training; former French Presidents who retired from politics are eligible to join the Constitutional Council if they wish. == See also ==