The Court's main purpose is to review lower court rulings on the grounds of legal or procedural error. As the highest court of law in France, it also has other duties.
Appeals The Court has inherent appellate jurisdiction for appeals (called
pourvois en cassation) from courts of appeal or, for certain types of small claims cases not appealable to appellate courts, from courts of record. The Supreme Court reviews the appeal on the record and may affirm or set aside lower court rulings; if set aside, the ruling is said to be
cassé (French for "quashed"), hence the French name of
Cour de cassation, or "Quashing Court". The Court adjudicates by strict appeal, or appeal
stricto sensu, which is limited to review of the decision and of the decision-making process on a point of law, and may only allow the appeal in cases of serious error; fresh evidence is not admissible. The typical outcome of a successful appeal is setting aside of the lower court's decision and remittal for reconsideration. An intermediate
appellate court, the
Cour d'appel, hears general appeals
de novo on points of law and procedure as well as errors of fact and reasoning. The Court of Cassation only decides matters of points of law or procedure on the record, as opposed to factual errors. Lower courts may petition the Court for an
interlocutory order during the proceedings on any new and complex point of law; any such order, however, is not final or conclusive.
Appeal procedure A case is heard by a bench of three or five relevant divisional justices. For either civil or criminal appeals, the bench seats by three judges unless the Chief Justice or the divisional presiding justice orders a full bench of five judges. Furthermore, any one of the three judges originally assigned to the bench may order it expanded to five. If the case falls in the legal areas handled by more than one division, the Chief Justice may order the divisional court, rather than a Bench, to consider the case. The Court can affirm a decision from below by dismissing the appeal (
rejet du pourvoi) or overturn or amend the decision by allowing the appeal (
accueil du pourvoi). If it finds that the lower court erred, it sets aside the lower court decision and remits the case with its opinion to an appellate court for reconsideration (
cassation avec renvoi). If only a portion of a ruling is overturned, it is called
cassation partielle, or partial setting aside. Sometimes, the Court may overturn a lower court ruling and judge the case
ex proprio motu without being petitioned (
cassation sans renvoi), as long as the merits and facts of the case are on record. When overturned, the case is remanded to a second appellate court, in other words not the appellate court whose decision is being appealed; never to the same judges. The decision of the Bench of the Court of Cassation or Divisional Court is not binding on the lower court, and the appellate court has full discretion to decide the case, but the higher court's ruling has persuasive authority. The appellate court's ruling may again be appealed to the Court of Cassation. If so, the Full Court hears and judges the case. It may, again, uphold an earlier decision or reverse it and remand the case to another appellate court. In the latter case, the determination of the Full Court is binding; the facts, however, may be reviewed by the court retrying the case. Published judgments are extremely brief, containing a statement of the case—citing relevant statutory authorities—and a summary of ruling. The ruling does not contain a
ratio decidendi in the style of
common-law jurisdictions. Instead, it is left to legal experts to explain the importance of rulings. The Court often drastically changes the way the
Civil Code or other statutory laws are interpreted. Legal digests, such as the
Recueil Dalloz, and treatises written by legal scholars analyze and explain rulings through precedents. Much of this information is available through online databases. Unlike common-law jurisdictions, there is no doctrine of binding precedent (
stare decisis) in France. Therefore, previous decisions of higher courts do not bind lower courts in the same hierarchy, though they are often followed and have persuasive authority. Instead, the French legal system subscribes to the legal doctrine of
jurisprudence constante according to which courts should follow a series of decisions that are in accord with each other and judges should rule on their own interpretation of the law.
Criminal appeals Major
felonies (
indictable offences), called
crimes in French, are tried by jury in a
county Court of Assizes. In the past, their decisions were not open to appeal in an intermediate appellate court, and before 2001, could only be appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court would review the case on points of procedure and law only, and when handing down a reversal, which was uncommon except for capital punishment cases, vested a second
Court of Assizes to retry the case. An argument in favor of this system was that allowing appeals to be tried by active judges after having been decided by a jury would in essence deny
popular sovereignty. Since 2001, Assize court rulings may be appealed on points of fact to a Court of Assizes in another county, vested by the Court, and before a larger jury. The case is then fully retried. For procedural issues, appeals to the Supreme Court are still possible since assize courts, which operate by jury trial, would not be competent to hear them.
Certified questions Where no appeal has been made but the government disagrees with the lower court's interpretation of the law, it may order the Chief Prosecutor to "lay an appeal before the Court in the interest of law" (''former un pourvoi dans l'intérêt de la loi
), i.e., appeal to certify a question of general public importance. The Chief Prosecutor may do so sua sponte'' or at the Court's behest in either civil or criminal cases. The Court will then issue an
advisory opinion which has no bearing on the lower court's ruling since it was satisfactory to all parties involved and no motion was made to appeal. If the government is dissatisfied with the law as stated by the courts, it may ask Parliament to rewrite the law, as long as no constitutional issue is involved.
Other duties The Court publishes an annual report on the French court system. The report includes a section with suggested changes to laws concerning the legal system, including
criminal procedure. The Court awards
damages to defendants exonerated after
incarceration. Some high-level members of the court are
ex officio members of special ad hoc courts; the investigatory commission of the High Court of Justice (
Haute Cour de Justice), which may be convened to try the
French President for
high treason; the
French Court of Justice (
Cour de Justice de la République), which may be convened to try current or former cabinet
ministers for crimes committed while in office; and the National Judicial Council (
Conseil supérieur de la magistrature), which serves as a court of judicial discipline and disciplinary counsel. The High Court of Justice has never been convened during the
Fifth Republic and the French Court of Justice, only rarely. ==Other related courts==