Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jérôme Rabenou has been the the internet master of the French Constitutional Council for ten years. He now
works for the Prime Minister Information Systems Security department. He created the first French legal
newsgroup (news:fr.misc.droit), website, and mailing-list. He received an LL.M in business law from the
University Paris-XIII.
Table of Contents
Basic Structure of the French Legal System........................................................................................2
Government Structure.....................................................................................................................................................2
Types of Legislation........................................................................................................................................................2
The Court System...........................................................................................................................................................2
Parliament.............................................................................................................................................2
Official Websites..................................................................................................................................3
Ministries (departments).................................................................................................................................................3
Local Communities..............................................................................................................................3
Other (Semi) Government Institutions and Independent Administrative Authorities..........................4
Legislation............................................................................................................................................4
(French)...........................................................................................................................................................................4
(English Translations).....................................................................................................................................................5
Case Law..............................................................................................................................................5
(French)...........................................................................................................................................................................5
(EnglishTranslations)......................................................................................................................................................5
Law Faculties........................................................................................................................................6
Law Libraries........................................................................................................................................6
Literature..............................................................................................................................................6
General............................................................................................................................................................................6
Business Law..................................................................................................................................................................6
Civil Law........................................................................................................................................................................6
Constitutional and Administrative Law..........................................................................................................................6
Criminal Law..................................................................................................................................................................7
Law Dictionaries.............................................................................................................................................................7
Citation.................................................................................................................................................7
Discussion Lists and Blogs...................................................................................................................7
Miscellaneous Legal Sites....................................................................................................................8
1
Basic Structure of the French Legal System
The French Republic (la République Française) is ruled by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (October
4th, 1958). A more detailed description of the French legal system is given by Claire Germain in her French
Law Guide, or the English version of the instruction manual of the official website Legifrance, French public
service f the dissemination of the Law on the Internet : "About Law".
Government Structure
France is a centralized country ruled by a semi-presidential system, called 'rationalized parlamentarism'. The
Head of the State (le Président de la République, Nicolas Sarkozy, elected in may 2007) is elected by direct
universal suffrage every 5 years (revision of the Constitution in September 2000). The President designates a
Prime minister from the parliamentary majority. Parliament shall comprise the National Assembly
(Assemblée nationale) and the Senate (Sénat). They both pass the Statutes (Lois).
For a more precise and accurate study, see the Final Report on the 22 April and 6 May 2007 Presidential
Election in France of the OSCE - ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights - Elections),
especially page 4 (Chapter III Background).
Types of Legislation
France is ruled by a strict hierarchy of norms. An overall norm is the Constitution (traditionally merged with
declarations of rights of 1789 and 1946). Under this text, Parliament should pass the statutes (les Lois), with
an internal hierarchy: institutional act (loi organique), ordinary act (loi ordinaire), and ordinance
(ordonnance).
The executive power has the right to enact regulations (règlements) which are called décrets (for Prime
Minister and President of the Republic) and arrêtés (for the rest of the executive branch). Statutes and non-
individual decrees have been numbered according to the form "99-1234" since 1945. Since 2000, cases are
named according to the form "2000-1234". All Statutes and decrees, and the most important arrêtés, are
published in the official gazette "Journal officiel de la République française, édition lois et décrets", and
receive unique reference numbers (since 1987: a NOR for normalized). It might be useful for some databases.
Since June 2004, French Law could also be published electronically. (See 'The Public Service of the
dissemination of the French Law on the Internet', Stephane Cottin, published in Review Acta Universitatis
Sibiu 2005 (1/2) )
Parliament
The French Bicameral Parliament, or Parlement, consists of the Senate, or Sénat, (331 seats - 304 for
metropolitan France, 15 for overseas departments and territories, and 12 for French nationals abroad;
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members are indirectly elected by an electoral college to serve nine-year terms; elected by thirds every three
years: a reform conducted from 2004 to 2011 will lead to a six-years term and a renewal by half every three
years) and the National Assembly or Assemblée Nationale (577 seats; members are elected under a single-
member majoritarian system to a serve five-year term)
The "French Republic's number three assembly" can be found in the Conseil économique et Social.
Official Websites
Legifrance: Public Service of the dissemination of the Law. Contains the official gazette from 1990,
statutes and decrees from 1978, all the official codes (some of them are translated into English and
Spanish), links toward other official sites. A pretty good presentation of the main lines of the French
Law is offered in English in this text : About the Law.
Service-Public: "Its design is focused on answering users' needs and on simplifying user's relations
with Government agencies and services. For now you have access in English to public sites (local,
national, European, International organizations, Foreign states)". This website includes the guide
"your rights and procedures" which informs - in French - the user about his rights and obligations
and directs him to relevant organizations. It comprises 2,400 sheets grouped by subject and 1,500
answers to frequently asked questions.
Vie-Publique.fr: Official or governmental information for French citizens. Portal of all the public
policies.
Ministries (departments)
Several websites maintain lists of French ministries (department = ministère) and offer English access:
Ministry for Economy, Finance and Industry - (English access for the Customs services)
Ministry for Foreign Affairs - (English access)
Local Communities
The General Directorate of Local Authorities - DGCL - belongs to the Ministry of Interior.
You can also find English access to some useful explanations here.
France is divided into several administrative levels ; the most important are: Région (22), Département (96),
Canton (app. 4000), Commune (app. 37500). The 22 régions are Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-
Normandie, Bourgogne, Bretagne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse, Franche-Comté, Haute-Normandie,
Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la
Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, and Rhone-Alpes. Metropolitan France is
then subdivided into 96 departments. France counts also 4 overseas départements (French Guiana,
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion), 7 overseas territorial collectivities with special status (Mayotte, Saint
Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, French Polynesia, Wallis & Futuna and New
Caledonia).
3
Other (Semi) Government Institutions and Independent
Administrative Authorities
A comprehensive list of Independent administrative authorities is hold on the official portal Légifrance
Here is a selection of some of these websites, especially those with some information for English-speaking
readers:
Data Inspection Board (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés) (English access)
Broadcasting Control Authority (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) (English access)
Ombudsman (Médiateur de la République)
Stock exchange control authority (Autorité des marchés financiers) (English access)
National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies - INSEE (English access)
Legislation
(French)
Paid Subscriptions
French legislation is officially published (paper) in the Journal officiel (official gazette) and in several official
bulletins. Since June 2004, French Law has also been officially published electronically.
The collected texts of the legislation in force are also available in private editions of 'Codes'. Law topics are
shared by several editors: some famous editors are Dalloz (with red books), Litec, Francis Lefebvre, Juris-
Classeur (part of Lexis-Nexis France, with the most comprehensive offer: "codes et lois").
The official service named "Service Public de Diffusion du Droit par l'Internet" (Public service for the
Dissemination of Law through the Internet) is now provided on a free and open basis (free for use, and with
light license fees for commercial re-edition) by the Government via Légifrance. Some other private editors
offer practically the same services with associated fees : Lexis-Nexis France (French division of Reed-
Elsevier), Lamy (French division of Wolters-Kluwer) and Lexbase, for example. WestLaw is represented in
France mainly by the Transactive company, but doesn't offer (yet ?) comprehensive access to French Law.
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(English Translations)
Printed Sources
• French Law, Constitution and Selective Legislation, Freshfields & Vivian Curran: Juris Publishing,
Inc., New York
• Sourcebook on French Law, by Pollard David, Cavendish Publishing Ltd, 1998, ISBN 1-85941187-8
Internet Sources
They are very rare. Nine codes (out of more than seventy-five) and two main acts are on the official portal
Legifrance: Civil law, Civil procedure law, Intellectual Property law, Post and Telecommunication's law,
Insurance law, Procurement contract law, Criminal law, Criminal procedure, Trade law, Consumer law. Some
institutions, like the Bank of France or the Ministry of Justice, offer unofficial translations of legal materials.
You can see also the works of Stephanie Burke (Harvard), Mirela Roznovschi (NYU), and "French Law in
action" Claire Germain (Cornell).
Case Law
(French)
Paid Subscriptions
The official service is no longer (see above) conceded by the Government to ORT, with Jurifrance. Since
2002, the "Service Public de Diffusion du Droit par l'Internet" (Public service of Dissemination of Law
through the Internet) has provided caselaw of the three supreme courts (Cour de cassation, Conseil d'Etat,
Conseil constitutionnel). The decisions are available in full text since 1986, and in selection from the early
1960s. Private editors offer practically the same services with associated fees (Lamyline.com; Lexbase). For
the other courts (Courts of Appeal...) a fee-based service is available from Jurisdata for selected decisions
from 1980.
(EnglishTranslations)
English translations of French case law are scarce. There are a few periodicals, however, that publish English
summaries of case law. The Constitutional council has been providing English summaries of its caselaw
since 1989 in his Yearbook (ed. Dalloz). Some international organizations may offer some selected caselaw. A
good example is the International Association of Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions in the Recueil de
décisions des hautes juridictions administratives / Selection of decisions of Supreme Administrative
Jurisdictions, or for the Commission for Democracy through law (Venice Commission) in his Bulletin on
Constitutional Case-Law.
The Institute of Global Law (Pr. Basil Markesinis, Universty College of London) gives short summaries of
French legal caselaw. The English translations of legal decisions include cases from the Conseil d'Etat, the
Cour de Cassation and the Conseil Constitutionnel, the latter of which provides directly through its website
some English-translated full text of decisions: click here.
5
Law Faculties
List of French universities: (links to the "international relations service" of each University)
List of French-speaking law faculties on the portal "Droit Francophone"
Law Libraries
The most important law library in France is Cujas (University of Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne). The whole
catalog of the library (4 million items) is online. Others libraries have electronic access, including the
National Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, (direct access to the selection of legal ressources), or
for example, Sciences-PoParis.
Literature
General
French Legal System, by Andrew West, Yvon Desdevises, Alain Fenet, Oxford University Press, 2005,
377 pages, ISBN 0-406-90323-9
French Legal Method, by Eva Steiner, Blackstone Press, 2002, 254 pages, ISBN 1 84174185 X
A History of French Public Law (Law Classic) by J. B. Brissaud (Paperback - Aug 2001) ISBN : 978-
1587981012
Learning French Through The Law, by Vivian Grosswald Curran, Professor of Law at the University
of Pittsburg School of Law, A publication of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law,
Columbia University. 300 Pages ISBN 0-9650295-0-6
Principles of French Law, by John Bell, Sophie Boyron, Simon Whittaker, Oxford University Press,
1998, ISBN 0-19876395-6, a second edition 2000 is avalaible ISBN 978-0198763956, and a third one
is to be published in march 2008 ISBN 978-0199541393
French substantive law, by Dadomo Christian and Farran, Sweet & Maxwell Ltd, 1996, ISBN
0421525509
Introduction to French Law, by Dickson Brice, Financial Times Prentice Hall (a Pearson Education
company), 1994, ISBN 0273601407
Business Law
French Business Law in a Box (CD-ROM - Sep 1, 2006) ISBN : 978-1905507375
French Arbitration Law and Practice by Jean-Louis Delvolve (Hardcover - Oct 2003) ISBN : 978-
9041122254
Civil Law
The French Civil Code by John H. Crabb (Translator) 2002, Kluwer Law International; ISBN 90
6544797 0
French Property and Inheritance Law: Principles and Practice by Henry Dyson (Paperback - Oct 25,
2003) ISBN : 978-0199254750
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Vanderbilt (Hardcover - Dec 30, 2006) ISBN : 978-1584777045
French Administrative Law : L. Neville Brown, John S. Bell With the Assistance of Jean-Michel
Galabert, 1998, Oxford Univ Pr; ISBN 0198765134
Criminal Law
The French Penal Code of 1994 As Amended As of January 1, 1999 (American Series of Foreign Penal
Codes, 31) by Edward A. Tomlinson 1999) Fred B Rothman & Co; ISBN 0837700531
French Criminal Law by Catherine Elliott (Paperback - May 2001) ISBN : 978-1903240304
Law Dictionaries
Dictionnaire juridique français-anglais / anglais-français : Law Dictionary French-English/English-
French, by Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson et alii, ed. Dalloz, 2004, ISBN 978-2247058228
The most common French law dictionary is Vocabulaire Juridique, by Gérard Cornu, ed. PUF, 2007,
ISBN 978-2130559863
Citation
There is no official method of legal citation in French. Private and public editors have their own systems,
their own abbreviations. However, on this excellent website, you will find some examples and practical
exercises of translation of French legal citations:
• Jurisguide
• Jurisguide Abbreviations
For information on French legal bibliography (University of Montreal, Canada, in French): Bibliothèque de
droit and especially this chapter on the meaning of the abbreviations in French legal bibliography. Finally,
here you can find some URLs on how to refer to a document in a legal thesis or article.
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Miscellaneous Legal Sites
English-speaking websites or services on French legal system:
Search for the country "France" on the FLAG database of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
(School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Research guide for France originally compiled by Paul Norman, Spring 1990. Updated by Gerry
Power, Access Librarian, March 2002, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (School of Advanced
Study, University of London)
Selection of French legal "portals"(list of French legal websites):
© 2007, Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School of Law