Under the
system of jurisdictional dualism in France, courts are organized into two main divisions (): • ordinary courts (), which handle criminal and civil litigation • administrative courts (), which supervise the government and handle complaints
Ordinary The ordinary courts, also called
judiciary courts, have jurisdiction over two branches of law: •
French civil law (), which involves settling civil cases between private individuals (also known as private law; )), and •
French criminal law ().
Minor jurisdiction At the bottom of the court hierarchy are the courts of minor jurisdiction, which may sit as
police courts ('
) to hear summary offenses (such as traffic violations, limited assault, breach of peace) or as civil courts (') to hear minor civil cases.
Major jurisdiction The next tier are the courts of major jurisdiction. When the court hears '
, less serious felonies and misdemeanors, it is called a Criminal Court (', also called a Correctional Court). When the court sits to hear civil matters, it is called a Civil Court ('
, also called a Grand Instance Court). It has original jurisdiction over civil cases involving more than €10,000 in legal damages. Litigants are legally required to be represented by an attorney. The court also sits as a Juvenile Court ('). These courts usually sit in panels of three judges, but some minor offenses such as traffic violations, lite drug trafficking, and misuse of credit cards and checking accounts may be heard by a single judge.
Specialized jurisdiction The
Labour Court (France) (''
conseil de prud'hommes'') hears disputes and suits between employers and employees (apart from cases devoted to administrative courts); the court is said to be '
because it is composed of equal numbers of representatives from employer unions, e.g., MEDEF and CGPME, and employee unions. The Agricultural Land Tribunal (') hears cases dealing with long-term leases for farm land estates. The
Social security tribunal (''
) hears suits over welfare and state benefits. The Business Court (tribunal de commerce'') hears matters involving trade and business disputes and the panel is elected from the local business community.
Court of Assize The
courts of assize ('''', also called a Court of Sessions) are located in each
department of France with original and appeals jurisdiction over
felony offenses. When acting as a
trial court, it normally rules in panels of three judges and six (formerly nine) jurors, but in some cases (involving e.g.
terrorism or
illegal drug trade) the court may sit in panels of five judges without grand jury. When acting as appellate court, it rules in either panels of three judges and nine (formerly twelve) jurors or seven judges without grand jury.
Court of Appeal The
courts of appeal (''
) are limited to appellate jurisdiction and hear the bulk of appeals. They sit in panels of three judges. Appeals courts are usually organized into social security, business, civil and criminal divisions. Formerly, it required the intervention of a solicitor or case attorney (avoué'') to prepare and manage the case and to act as an intermediary between the barrister and the appealing party; the functions of the were abolished in 2012.
Court of Cassation The
Court of Cassation ('''') is the highest level of appeal in France. These courts sit in six chambers with fifteen judges in each; however, only seven judges need to be present to hear a case. Criminal cases are heard in only one of the court's five chambers and the court has no legal authority to deny a criminal appeal. The Court is referred to as the guardian of the law. It only reviews questions of law, not questions of fact. The Court's essential purpose is to ensure that the interpretation of the law is uniform throughout the country. The Court is located in the
Hall of Justice building in Paris. It was established in 1790 under the name '
during the French Revolution, and its original purpose was to act as a court of error with revisionary jurisdiction over lower provincial prerogative courts ('). However, much about the Court continues the earlier Paris Parliament Court.
Administrative Administrative courts of general jurisdiction Administrative court Appellate administrative court Council of State Financial courts The financial courts - national
Court of Audit (
cour des comptes) and regional audit courts (
chambres régionales des comptes) - have jurisdiction to try cases involving possible misuse of public funds, and, in some rare instances, of private funds. They are empowered and mandated by Article 15 of the 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which set forth that French citizens have the right to hold public officers, agents, and officials accountable for the finances they oversee and operate. The courts' roles and responsibilities are laid out in the Financial Court Code.
Jurisdictional court The Jurisdictional Court, or
tribunal des conflits, handles conflicts between the civil system of justice and the administrative system of justice. There are two kinds of conflicts: • Positive conflict: both systems consider themselves competent for the same case. • Negative conflict: both systems consider that the other system is competent for the case, resulting in a denial of justice. In both cases, the
tribunal des conflits will render final judgment on which system is competent.
Constitutional Council The
Constitutional Council ('''') practices
judicial review of legislative acts and laws. The ordinary and administrative courts have refused to perform this type of
judicial review, outside of 2 exceptions in 1851. It supervises controversies of elections and performs judicial review by determining the constitutionality of parliamentary legislation.
Jurisdiction The Court of Audit and regional audit courts mostly adjudicate cases regarding public funds, carrying out: • Mandatory audits of public accountants to track national and local government funds. • Discretionary audits of public corporations, publicly subsidized private organizations, and social security and welfare agencies. • Since 1999, audits of private charities who regularly receive public donations. Neither national or regional audit courts hear cases related to private organizations, with the few exceptions noted here. Instead, financial cases concerning private funds and money fall within the jurisdiction of the civil justice system. Prior to 1982, France only had a single national Court of Audit. With a push toward decentralization in the creation of province-like administrative regions and the increased role of local elected officials and considering the Court's enormous docket, France saw fit to establish regional audit courts. The national court now deals primarily with the government, public establishments, and (semi-)public companies on a national level, while the regional courts handle the local level. The court may occasionally delegate national-level audits to regional courts, as is often the case with post-secondary educational facilities. An important concept in the business of the financial courts is the difference between, in French public accountings, between
ordonnateurs (managers who order expenses and perception of payments) and
payeurs (the public accountants who pay expenses and recoup debts). The Court only judges public accountants; but it may also make observations about the decisions taken by the
ordonnateurs, and possibly send them before other courts for mismanagement (see below).
Activities These jurisdictions act as courts in the ordinary sense of the word in some limited circumstances. That is, they judge the accounting of public accountants (
comptables publics) and may fine them in case of certain failures: • They may fine public accountants if they are late in handing over their accounting. • They may find that the accountant neglected to collect money owed to the state (or other government) or, through negligence, unduly gave away state (or other government) money. The responsibility of the public accountant in those circumstances is personal and unlimited, meaning that the accountant has to refund all lost money. This situation is known as
débet (from Latin: "he owes"). Because of the possibility of
débet, all public accountants must have external warranty as well as insurance. In practice, many
débets grossly exceed the financial means of the public accountants concerned, and the
Minister of Finance may end up pardoning the debt (
remise gracieuse). • They may find that somebody or some organization did accounting operations on public funds whereas they were not public accountants. In those circumstances, they are found to be
de facto public accountants (
comptables de fait) and they face the same constraints and penalties as
de jure public accountants. In addition, the
Cour des Comptes supports and provides half of the judges of the
Cour de discipline financière et budgétaire (Court of financial and budgetary discipline), the other half being provided by the Conseil d'État. This court tries
ordonnateurs — that is, the persons who order expenses and the recovery of debts, may fine them for undue expenses or for sums that they should have decided to recover. However, the court cannot try government ministers, or (in almost all cases), local elected officials; thus, with few exceptions, the only
ordonnateurs that face the court are civil servants. If the
Cour des Comptes or the regional chambers discern criminal behavior in the accounts that they audit, they refer the matter to the appropriate criminal court. Most of the activity of the
Cour des Comptes and the regional chambers is not of a judicial kind (
juridictionnel); rather, they act as a general auditing system. However, even for these activities, they act with almost complete independence of both the
executive and the
legislative branches. The court and chambers may advise, or reprimand, ministries, administrations and public establishments that they audited. The court and chamber publish a yearly report in which it discusses a selection of misuses of funds and other incidents. In addition, they may also publish specialized reports. The court and chambers are free to inquire on whatever they wish within their field of competency; the court may also be commissioned reports by Parliament. In all these advisory and publishing activities, the court and chambers do not limit themselves to pure accounting issues, but they also take the efficiency of public services into account. They may, for instance, criticize an expense that was legally ordered and accounted for, but which was inappropriate with respect to criteria of good financial management. The 2001 ''Loi d'orientation sur les lois de finances
(LOLF, law fixing the framework for budget acts) changed the way budget was passed in France: now, budget is attributed to specific missions'', and the efficiency of spending on each mission is to be assessed. In that context, the court's missions will include an increased dose of assessment of efficiency. ==Principal actors==