Court organization in France

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The organization of the French courts is based on a strict separation between ordinary and administrative jurisdiction ( ordre de juridiction judiciaire and ordre de juridiction administrative ) in French law. It is based on the model of separation of administrative and judicial authorities ( principe de séparation des autorités administratives et judiciaires ), which goes back to a law of 16 to 24 August 1790. According to this, the judge (of the ordinary jurisdiction) is forbidden "to disrupt the work of the administrative authorities in any way, in particular not to allow legal proceedings against them" (French: de troubler de quelque manière que ce soit les opérations des corps administratifs, ni citer devant eux les administrateurs en raison de leurs fonctions ).

In cases of doubt, the Conflit Tribunal will decide on the assignment . Finally, the Conseil constitutionnel is also outside the division into ordinary and administrative jurisdiction .

Palais de Justice in Paris
Overview of court organization

Ordinary jurisdiction

The ordinary jurisdiction is responsible for all judicial proceedings in private law and criminal law.

First instance courts

In the courts of first instance, a distinction must first be made between civil and criminal jurisdiction ( juridiction civile and juridiction répressive ).

Civil jurisdiction

Tribunal d'instance

The tribunal d'instance (district court) has general jurisdiction (with a few exceptions in favor of the Tribunal de Grande Instance and certain special courts) for all legal cases with a value in dispute of up to 10,000 euros. It also has special responsibilities, for example for housing tenancy law .

At the tribunal d'instance, a single judge generally judges, before whom the parties themselves may appear. However, representation - both litigation ( représentation ) and pleading ( assistance ) - by a lawyer, close relatives or your partner is possible.

The number of former 476 district courts was reduced to 297 in 2010.

Tribunal de grande instance

The Tribunal de grande instance is responsible for all legal cases that are not assigned to any other court, in particular for all proceedings with a value in dispute of over 10,000 euros.

Each tribunal de grande instance has several chambers, which usually decide by the chairman and two other judges as assessors, but according to a law of July 10, 1970, can also decide by a single judge under certain conditions if the parties agree. The parties must be represented by a lawyer ( représentation ), but may plead themselves ( assistance ). The negotiations are usually public ( en audience publique ), but - for example in divorce cases - they can also take place in camera in the council chamber ( en chambre du conseil ); however, the judgments are always announced publicly.

In France there are currently 181 tribunaux de grande instance, but according to an ordinance of February 15, 2008 ( décret n ° 2008-145 ) , their number is to be reduced by 23 to 158. They decide about 600,000 cases a year.

Special dishes

In addition to local courts and tribunaux de grande instance, there are a number of special courts, including:

  • the commercial courts ( tribunaux de commerce ), where exclusively elected merchants judge and decide about 200,000 cases annually.
  • the labor courts ( conseils de prud'hommes ), which decide on around 170,000 labor law disputes every year and, as part of the labor courts, are half made up of elected representatives of the employers and the other half with representatives of the employees ; in the event of a stalemate, a district court judge decides.
  • the land lease courts ( tribunaux paritaires des baux ruraux ), which decide on land lease contracts (around 3,500 cases per year) and each have two landlords and tenants and a professional judge .
  • the minor or neighborhood courts ( juridictions de proximité ), which have existed since 2003, are staffed by legally experienced lay judges (e.g. former court officials ( magistrats )) and decide minor cases with a value in dispute of up to 4,000 euros.

Criminal jurisdiction

Tribunal de Police

The police court ( tribunal de police ) is exclusively responsible for violations ( contraventions ) of the fifth class - administrative offenses that are particularly serious (but not yet constitute an offense) - and individual violations of a lower class assigned to it by decree .

Tribunal Correctionel

The breeding police court ( tribunal correctionnel ) is responsible for offenses ( délits ) - legal violations that are punished with imprisonment or fines of at least 3,750 euros.

Cour d'Assises

The jury (also "assizes"; fr. Cour d'assises ) is finally for crimes ( crimes responsible) - very serious violations of law that are generally sanctioned with a prison sentence. In contrast to the Police and Breeding Police Courts, it is not a permanent establishment, rather the jury courts only meet every three months (usually in the capital of the department ). They not only consist of three professional judges, but also of a nine-member jury panel , which is compiled from the electoral lists of the region. According to Art. 359 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ( Code de procédure pénal ), any decision against the accused requires a majority of eight to four votes.

Special dishes

Several courts with special jurisdiction also exist in criminal jurisdiction, for example:

  • the minor courts ( juridictions de proximité ) that were only created in 2003 and are made up of lay judges without legal training; they are responsible for all violations of the first four classes and are not allowed to impose any prison sentences.
  • the juvenile courts ( juridictions pour mineurs ), which include the juge des enfants (responsible for fifth-grade violations and misdemeanors), the tribunal pour enfants (fifth-grade violations and misdemeanors, and crimes committed by perpetrators under the age of 16) and the cour d'assises des mineurs (crimes committed by 16 to 18 year olds).
  • the military courts ( juridictions militaires ), which include the tribunaux des forces armées , which are only competent in times of war , as well as various (special) compositions of the disciplinary police and jury courts.
  • consisting of parliamentarians existing High Court of Justice ( Haute Cour de justice ), in front of the Art. 67 of the Constitution the President for high treason may be indicted.
  • the Court of Justice of the Republic ( Cour de justice de la République ), made up of parliamentarians and senior judges , which decides on complaints against ministers who have committed offenses or crimes in their office.

Appeals and Cassation Body

By filing an appeal , proceedings can be brought before an appeal court. As far as is usually first by admissible appeal ( appel the) Court of Appeal called, then that is Cassation ( pourvoi en cassation ) to the Court of Cassation possible.

Appeals courts

According to the “Principe du double degré de juridiction” it is basically possible to appeal a case decided by a court of first instance to a higher court, the court of appeal ( cour d'appel ). The judges decide anew on all factual and legal questions (so-called devolutive effect ). The first instance judgment is - as a rule - not enforceable (so-called suspensive effect) until its decision (or the expiry of the appeal period).

However, an appeal is only possible if the first-instance decision was not made “as first and last instance” (French: en premier et dernier ressort ), but with approval of the appeal ( à charge d'appel ). This is the case for all civil cases that have a value in dispute of over € 4,000; in criminal cases, until the year 2000, there was regularly only the possibility of appeal against judgments of the Breeding Police Court. A law of June 15, 2000 now also allows the appeal against decisions of the jury, which is decided not by the court of appeal, but by another jury (by a then twelve-member senate). In addition, under criminal law, a retrial ( pourvoi en révision ) is exceptionally possible after the deadline for lodging an appeal, which is decided before the Court of Cassation.

There are 35 courts of appeal in France, most of which consist of several chambers.

Court of Cassation

Entrance to the Court of Cassation

see main article: Court of Cassation (France)

An appeal in cassation can be lodged within two months against appeals as well as against first instance judgments of the factual instance ( jump revision ) against which no appeal is permitted. In criminal law this has a suspensive effect.

Since the Court of Cassation ( Cour de cassation ) only decides on legal issues, the application for cassation may only be directed against the application of the law of the lower court. Otherwise, according to Art. L. 131-6, Paragraph 2 of the code de l'organization judiciaire (COJ), he will not be admitted to the decision.

If the Court of Cassation follows the contested judgment of the lower court, a rejection decision ( arrêt de rejet ) is issued and the process finally ends. Otherwise, however, a cassation order ( arrêt de cassation ) is issued, which cancels the previous judgment; As the Court of Cassation does not decide any questions of fact, this usually requires a new judgment by a (different) Court of Appeal, to which the Court of Cassation refers the case. However, the Court of Cassation then decides itself without further referral if the decision does not require a new judgment in the dispute (Art. 627, para. 1 of the nouveau code de procédure civile (NCPC) and Art. L. 411-3, para. 1 of the COJ ) or the Court of Cassation can decide on the basis of the factual issues that have already been clarified (Art. 627, Paragraph 2 of the NCPC and Art. L. 411-3, Paragraph 2 of the COJ ). If the court of appeal does not follow the decision following the cassation order ( rébellion ), a new cassation examination is possible. If the decision differs for the same cassation reasons as before, this will now be decided in the plenary ( Assemblée plénière ), which consists of representatives from all six chambers of the Court of Cassation, with this plenary decision for the courts of appeal, which is referred to in the event of a renewed rejection decision is binding according to Art. L. 431-4 of the COJ .

In addition to the plenum, which also meets on questions of principle ( questions de principe ), the Court of Cassation can also decide in the constellation of a Grand Senate ( Chambre mixte ) in which at least three of the six chambers of the court are represented. The Grand Senate meets if several chambers are affected by the decision or if the opinions of the individual chambers on a legal issue differ. In addition, the chamber responsible for the legal area concerned decides solely through a three- person senate ( formation restreinte ) or five-person senate ( formation ordinaire ).

Administrative jurisdiction

All administrative jurisdiction in France is regulated in the Code de justice administrative (CJA) of May 4, 2000.

Administrative court

In the first instance, the administrative court ( tribunal administratif ) is responsible for administrative and public court proceedings . There are only a few areas where special courts have competencies, such as the Court of Auditors ( Cour des comptes ), which has existed since 1807 , which also has control functions vis-à-vis the government and parliament and decides "as first and last instance" (i.e. without the possibility of appeal), or the budget court - and financial discipline ( cour de discipline budgétaire et financière ), which has existed since a law of 25 September 1948 and is composed of judges from the Court of Auditors and the Supreme Court of the Council of State ( Conseil d'État ).

Administrative courts usually consist of several chambers, the Paris Administrative Court, however, in sections ( sections divided). In addition to their judicial tasks, they also perform administrative and, in particular, advisory tasks for the prefect .

Higher Administrative Court

Only since Act No. 87-1127 of December 31, 1987 has it been fundamentally permissible under Art. L. 321-1 of the CJA to appeal the decision to an administrative court and to appeal to one of the eight higher administrative courts ( cours administratives d'appel ) that have existed in France since January 1, 1989.

State Council

Entrance to the State Council

see main article: Conseil d'État (France)

It is true that the Council of State was already provided for in the French constitution of December 13, 1799; up to a law of May 24, 1872, however, it only had advisory functions. Since 1872 he has also performed judicial tasks; the first five of its six departments continue to serve advisory and administrative tasks.

The State Court of Justice ( section du contentieux ), which is housed in the sixth section, is divided into ten sub -sections ( sous-sections ), which decide both on particularly important or complex legal questions in the first instance and, for example, in questions of local electoral law as an appeal instance and finally on all revisions. However, these are only possible in certain cases expressly regulated by law, in particular in the case of formal errors ( vices de forme ), errors of jurisdiction ( vices d'incompétence ) or violations of the law ( violations de la loi ). Like the Court of Cassation, the Council of State does not rule on factual issues. Accordingly, he can refer a decision that he has annulled back to another court of the same rank; if this does not agree with the opinion of the Council of State, the latter then makes a final decision. In addition, according to Art. L. 821-2 of the CJA , he can decide the case himself after a decision that has been annulled if this is in the interests of his interests.

Tribunal des conflits

The strict separation between ordinary and administrative jurisdiction is taken into account by the Tribunal des Conflits (conflict court), which was created by a law of May 24, 1872 and is composed equally of high judges from both jurisdictions. The President of the Court is the French Minister of Justice .

On the one hand, it decides cases in which both ordinary and administrative courts consider themselves competent - positive conflicts of competence ( conflits de compétence positifs ) - and on the other hand cases in which neither of the two jurisdictions considers themselves competent - negative conflicts of competence ( conflits de compétence négatifs ).

Constitutional Council

see main article: Conseil constitutionnel (France)

The constitutional council ( Conseil constitutionnel ) provided for in Articles 56 to 63 of the French Constitution, with its seat in the Palais-Royal in Paris, performs various tasks for which it has sole competence.

In addition to the control of parliamentary and presidential elections as well as referendums , this is primarily the control of the constitutionality of laws, which are fundamentally prior to the execution ( promulgation ) by the state president and according to Article 61 of the constitution upon request (by the president, the prime minister , the Presidents of one of the two chambers of parliament or 60 members of parliament or senators). In the case of the organic laws that substantiate the constitution ( lois organiques ) and the rules of procedure of the National Assembly and Senate , however, it is mandatory under Articles 46 and 61 of the constitution. Since the constitutional reform of 2008, according to Art. 61-1 of the constitution, there has also been the option of subsequent control on submission by the State Council or the Court of Cassation. Since March 1, 2010, a party to ongoing legal proceedings can now also use a separate brief to assert the unconstitutionality of a statutory provision by requesting that the court should raise a "priority question on constitutionality" ( question prioritaire de constitutionnalité , abbreviation QPC ) submit them to the Constitutional Council for a decision via the Court of Cassation or the Council of State.

The court consists of nine judges, who are appointed in equal parts by the president and the presidents of the two chambers of parliament, as well as all former presidents.

literature

  • Thierry Debard, Serge Guinchard, Gabriel Montagnier, André Varinard: Institutions juridictionelles . 10th edition. Dalloz-Sirey, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-247-08450-0
  • Jean-Luc Aubert, Éric Savaux: Introduction au droit et thèmes fondamentaux du droit civil . 12th edition. Dalloz-Sirey, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-247-08051-9 , pp. 122-172: La jurisprudence .
  • Sybille Neumann, François-Xavier Licari: Introduction au droit français pour juristes et étudiants en droit germanophones , Part 1, Verlag Alpmann und Schmidt Legal courses, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-89476-901-7 , pp. 19–33: Les juridictions françaises .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 124 (No. 130).
  2. ↑ See Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 124 (No. 130).
  3. ^ A b Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 133 (No. 141).
  4. ^ A b c Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 147 (No. 154).
  5. ↑ a b c d e Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 146 (No. 153).
  6. ↑ Guinchard, Montagnier, Varinard: Institutions juridictionelles . *. Edition. 2007, No. 357 f.
  7. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 148 (No. 156).
  8. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 149 (No. 157).
  9. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 149 (No. 158).
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 151 f. (No. 160).
  11. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 154 (No. 162).
  12. ↑ In Germany, the regional courts are responsible for appeals against local court decisions - with the exception of family matters and certain matters of voluntary jurisdiction - the higher regional courts against decisions by the regional courts in civil matters and family courts, see Sections 71, 72, 119 Courts Constitution Act - GVG)
  13. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 154 f. (No. 162 f.).
  14. ^ A b Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 154 f. (No. 163).
  15. ↑ See Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, pp. 146-150 (No. 153-158).
  16. ^ A b Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 155 f. (No. 164).
  17. ^ A b c Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, pp. 159-161 (No. 167).
  18. ^ A b c Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 157 f. (No. 165).
  19. ^ A b Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 127 f. (No. 133).
  20. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 131 f. (No. 138).
  21. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 132 (No. 139).
  22. ^ Neumann, Licari: Introduction au droit français . I / 2006, p. 21.
  23. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 128 (No. 134).
  24. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 129 (No. 136).
  25. ^ A b Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 130 f. (No. 137).
  26. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 66 (No. 84).
  27. ^ Jean-Luc Aubert, Savaux: Introduction au droit . 12th edition. 2008, p. 63 (No. 80).
  28. ^ Neumann, Licari: Introduction au droit français . I / 2006, p. 12.