French law | Britannica (original) (raw)

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• major reference
  • 
    In civil law: The French system
    In France the Revolutionary period was one of extensive legislative activity, and long-desired changes were enthusiastically introduced. A new conception of law appeared in France: statute was deemed the basic source of law. Customs remained only if they could not be replaced by…
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• civil law systems
  • 
    In crime: Continental Europe
    …parallel in common law is France’s unified magistracy, whose members include judges and prosecuting attorneys. Both the prosecuting attorneys and the judges work for the national justice ministry, whose central administration is also a part of the unified magistracy. Prosecuting attorneys receive the same training as judges, and their primary…
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• comparative law
  • 
    In comparative law: 19th-century beginnings
    …Germany in 1829 and in France in 1834 to further a systematic study of foreign law. In France, the civil and mercantile laws of modern states were translated with “concordances” referring to the corresponding provisions of the French codes; and in England in 1850–52, Leone Levi published a work entitled…
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• conflict of laws
  • 
    In conflict of laws: Diversity of legal systems
    , France and the Netherlands) attempt to strike a balance between the interests of the parties—for example, by allowing the original owner to recover the goods but requiring him to compensate the good-faith purchaser in some manner.
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• conscientious objector
  • In conscientious objector
    Until the 1960s neither France nor Belgium had legal provision for conscientious objectors, although for some years in both countries growing public opinion—fortified in France by the unpopularity of the Algerian War of Independence—had forced limited recognition administratively. A French law of 1963 finally gave legal recognition to religious…
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• family law
  • In family law: Engagement
    Thus, French law has been led to reject an action of breach of promise (while permitting an action in delict—that is, on the ground that one party has been wronged). The common law, on the other hand, allows claims for breach of promise, though the modern…
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  • In family law: Separation of marital property
    The French civil code of 1804 began a European pattern of giving spouses a choice of matrimonial regime: the codifiers were confronted with a variety of customary laws in different parts of the country, and, not wishing to impose one of them, they included alternatives in…
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• immunity
  • In immunity
    French law and practice prohibits the arrest of a member of the legislature during a session without authorization by that chamber. This practice prevails in many European and other nations.
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• inheritance law
  • 
    In inheritance: Historical development
    In France and Germany the will of the Roman pattern was fully recognized in the late 15th century. Just about that time, however, the enfeoffment to uses, which had been popular in England, was abolished by Henry VIII’s Statute of Uses in 1535. The King wished…
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  • 
    In inheritance: France
    The French Civil Code was enacted in 1804, and its provisions of intestate succession have been changed many times. With respect to the surviving spouse, one must take into account the one-half share in the marital acquests that belongs to the surviving spouse unless…
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  • 
    In inheritance: Transfer in civil law
    …estate either, as under the French system, by declaring his acceptance to be under the benefit of the inventory and by then making the inventory fully and correctly or, as under the German system, by handing over the estate to a judicially appointed administrator.
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• juvenile justice
  • In juvenile justice: Continental Europe
    France, for example, placed priority on the educational and emotional needs of youth. The country passed its first juvenile court legislation in 1912, which created a court dedicated to handling juvenile cases. A more comprehensive system in use since 1945 is based upon the Tribunal…
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• sumptuary law
  • In sumptuary law
    In France, Philip IV issued regulations governing the dress and the table expenditures of the several social orders in his kingdom. Under later French kings the use of gold and silver embroidery, silk fabrics, and fine linen was restricted. In England during the reign of Edward…
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business law

• agency
  • 
    In agency: Apparent authority and related questions
    Article 2008 of the French Civil Code even goes so far as to treat all transactions of an agent who acts in ignorance of the death of his principal as valid. The more balanced solution offered by the courts on the Continent, however, is to make the good faith…
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• bankruptcy
  • In bankruptcy: Early developments
    In France, national rules on insolvency and bankruptcy were inserted into the Ordonnance du Commerce of 1673. It regulated both voluntary assignments for the benefit of creditors made by merchants (Title X) and the proceedings and effects flowing from bankruptcy (Title XI). It was interpreted to…
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• carriage of goods
  • 
    In carriage of goods: Historical development
    …number of countries following the French system, a contract of carriage requires the presence of three indispensable elements: carriage, control of the operation by the carrier, and a professional carrier. If any of these elements is missing, the contract is one for the hire of services rather than a special…
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• commercial law
  • 
    In commercial transaction
    In France, for example, bankruptcy is open only to individuals who are merchants and to business organizations, and there are special rules applying to commercial cases. In Germany, similarly, the general rules on consumer sales are in part superseded by special rules on commercial sales. A…
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• labour laws
  • 
    In labour law: Historical development of labour law
    …Zürich in 1815 and in France in 1841. By 1848 the first legal limitation of the working hours of adults was adopted by the Landsgemeinde (citizens’ assembly) of the Swiss canton of Glarus. Sickness insurance and workers’ compensation were pioneered by Germany in 1883 and 1884, and compulsory arbitration in…
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• management liability
  • 
    In business organization: Types of business associations
    …of assets in bankruptcy in French law, people who act as directors and participate in the management of the company’s affairs are treated as such even though they have not been formally appointed.
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constitutional law

• judicial review
  • 
    In judicial review
    In France judicial review must take place in the abstract (i.e., in the absence of an actual case or controversy) and before promulgation (i.e., before a challenged law has taken effect). In other countries (e.g., Austria, Germany, South Korea, and Spain) courts can exercise judicial review…
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criminal law

• code
  • In criminal law: Common law and code law
    French criminal law has predominated in the French-speaking African states. Italian criminal law and theory have been influential in Latin America.
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  • In criminal law: Conspiracy
    …continental European countries, such as France or Germany, punishment of crimes may be enhanced when the offense was committed by two or more persons acting in concert.
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• defamation
  • In defamation
    French defamation laws historically have been more severe. An act of 1881, which inaugurated modern French defamation law, required conspicuous retraction of libelous material in newspapers and allowed truth as a defense only when publications concerned public figures. Modern German defamation is similar but generally…
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• deportation
  • In deportation
    France initiated deportation during the Revolutionary period; the practice survived until 1938 despite much public criticism of the prison conditions on the islands of French Guiana, particularly the notorious Devil’s Island. Peter I the Great of Russia ordered political prisoners to Siberia in 1710, thus…
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• extenuating circumstance
  • In extenuating circumstance
    The French and Japanese penal codes provide for reduction of punishment according to a prescribed scale when the jury or court finds extenuating circumstances.
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• parole
  • In parole
    In France first-time offenders usually are paroled after serving one-half of their sentences; recidivists are eligible for parole after a longer period of imprisonment.
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• riot
  • 
    In riot
    French law does not define riot separately but treats it as a special case of resistance to public authority under the general heading of rebellion. Breach of the peace, which is central to the Anglo-American concept of riot, is not treated as an offense in…
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• search and seizure
  • In search and seizure
    In France the police have extensive powers of search and seizure in the case of flagrant offense and when a crime is being committed or has just been committed, but in other instances court authorization is required.
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history

evolution

• 
  In France: The social order of the ancien régime
  …of overlapping institutions, each with rules that entitled its members to enjoy particular privileges (a term derived from the Latin words for “private law”). Rights and status flowed as a rule from the group to the individual rather than from individuals to the group, as was true after 1789.
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• 
  In France: Constitution of the Fourth Republic
  …concentrating power in a one-house legislature subject to grassroots control by the voters. De Gaulle remained aloof from this controversy, though it was obvious that he favoured a strong presidency. In January 1946 de Gaulle suddenly resigned his post as provisional president, apparently expecting that a wave of public support…
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• Germanic law

  • 
    In Germanic law: Rise of feudal and monarchial states
    In France the legal development in the north differed from that in the south. The regional customs in the north were made up of Germanic and Roman law, the Carolingian capitularies, and canon law, but Germanic elements predominated. In the south, the so-called pays de droit…
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• Free French movement

  • 
    In Free French
    Two days later, a French army officer, General Charles de Gaulle, appealed by radio from London (whence he had fled on June 17) for a French continuation of the war against Germany. On June 28 de Gaulle was recognized by the British as the leader of Free France (as…
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• Indian colonies

  • In Indian law
    The Portuguese and French used their own laws in their colonies. In British India some British statutes applied, and a few have remained in force. All powers adapted their laws to local conditions, and the famous Anglo-Indian codes, passed in India at intervals from 1860 to 1882, reflected…
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• influence on Japanese law

  • In Japanese Civil Code
    …should be based on the French or the English system of law. This disagreement arose from the rather strange position of both those systems in Japanese law schools and courts. After the restoration, law schools had been set up that gave courses in both English and French law. Because of…
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legal professions

• 
  In legal profession: Medieval Europe
  …in some parts of southern France and in central Italy. The Christian church, which became the official Roman imperial church after 381 ce, developed its own canon law, courts, and practitioners and followed the general outline of later Roman legal organization. Because of its success among the invaders, the church…
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• 
  In legal profession: Public-directed practice
  …others, such as Japan and France, the various official bureaus are more likely to be staffed, respectively, by law graduates not admitted to practice or by nonlawyers who have been trained in a special school of administration. In the formerly socialist countries of eastern Europe, most lawyers tended to work…
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• 
  In legal profession: Regulation by statutes and bar associations
  In France law partnerships are permitted, and the proportion of lawyers practicing in this manner is constantly increasing. Incorporation of legal practitioners is almost universally prohibited. These restrictions result from the emphasis on personal responsibility of the individual lawyer to his client, to the court, and…
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education

• 
  In legal education: Levels of study
  …purposes has become the basic French law degree.
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• judicial training

  • 
    In legal education: Civil-law countries
    In some countries, such as France and Spain, there are special schools for training judges. In others, such as Germany and the Nordic countries, judicial training is acquired in the post-law-school period of practical internship. In Germany, for example, a law graduate may be appointed to a lower court after…
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• qualifications for practice

  • 
    In legal education: Civil-law countries
    In France, for example, a legal practitioner may be an advocate, an avoué, a notary, or a judge. Each receives a different training, but all normally have gone through third- and fourth-year law degree courses. The advocate (roughly corresponding to the English barrister) must pass a…
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• assessor

  • In assessor
    In France the jury of nine, which sits only in the assize courts, where only the most serious crimes are tried, is in reality a group of assessors who must decide in conjunction with three professional judges. Juries may circumvent the judges, as a majority of…
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• assigned counsel

  • In assigned counsel
    For example, in France anyone accused of a crime beyond a minor misdemeanour must have counsel at the preliminary hearing and the trial, but this right has not been extended to cover police interrogation. Japan requires counsel only for cases in which punishment may exceed a three-year prison…
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• bailiff

  • In bailiff
    In France the bailli had much greater power; from the 13th to the 15th century they were the principal agents of the king and his growing central administration for countering feudalism. The bailli was part of this central administration, appointed by the king and required to…
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• juge d’instruction

  • In juge d’instruction
    France, magistrate responsible for conducting the investigative hearing that precedes a criminal trial. In this hearing the major evidence is gathered and presented, and witnesses are heard and depositions taken. If the juge d’instruction is not convinced that there is sufficient evidence of guilt to…
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• lawyer

  • In lawyer
    In France numerous types of professionals and even nonprofessionals handle various aspects of legal work. The most prestigious is the avocat, who is equal in rank to a magistrate or law professor. Roughly comparable to the English barrister, the _avocat_’s main function is to plead in…
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• prosecutor

  • In prosecutor
    In some countries, such as France, public prosecution is carried out by a single office that has representatives in courts all over the country (see ministère public). In Japan, too, the office of public prosecutor runs parallel to a unitary court system. In the United States, however, states and counties…
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  • 
    In legal profession: Public-directed practice
    In Italy and France the prosecutor is a member of the judiciary. Both prosecutors and judges receive the same training, and both may move from one role to the other in the course of their advancement in the civil service. In Germany, although the prosecutor is not technically…
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• rapporteur

  • In rapporteur
    in French civil law, a judge who furnishes a written report on the case at hand to other judges of the court, in which he sets forth the arguments of the parties, specifies the questions of fact and of law raised in the dispute, and…
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legal systems

courts and arbitration

• assize
  • In assize
    In France assizes were held regularly in the large towns and were run by the prévôts, low-ranking royal judicial administrators, in conjunction with a group of local assessors (lay judges). The grand assizes met four times a year under the auspices of the area baron or…
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• Conseil d’État
  • 
    In Conseil d’État
    …(French: “Council of State”), highest court in France for issues and cases involving public administration. Its origin dates back to 1302, though it was extensively reorganized under Napoleon and was given further powers in 1872. It has long had the responsibility of deciding or advising on state issues and legislative…
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• inquisitorial procedure
  • In inquisitorial procedure
    …in the investigation; while in France the prosecution presents its recommendations only at the end of the hearing. In both France and Germany the investigating magistrate will recommend a trial only if he is sure that there is sufficient evidence of guilt. The entire dossier of the pretrial proceedings is…
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• jurisdiction
  • In competence and jurisdiction
    …least one party is a French national; in Italy some Italian link must be shown by a nonnational for jurisdiction to be exercised; and in Germany and Austria, by contrast, the location of property often determines jurisdiction.
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• jury
  • In petit jury
    Germany and France have a mixed tribunal of judges and jurors in criminal cases, and Japan abolished its petit jury in 1943 after a brief experimental period for civil cases.
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• procedural law
  • 
    In procedural law: Medieval European law
    …tribal traditions in Italy and France, and somewhat later in Germany, though not all elements of the Germanic procedure disappeared. By contrast, in Scandinavia indigenous procedure adapted itself and was able to resist displacement by foreign law.
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  • 
    In procedural law: Pretrial matters
    In France a special panel called the chambre d’accusation determines whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed; in England the Magistrate’s Court makes the decision on “binding over” the defendant for trial; and in Germany the trial court itself (sitting without lay assessors)…
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• provost
  • In provost
    French law, an inferior royal judge under the ancien régime, who, during the later Middle Ages, often served as an administrator of the domain. The position appears to date from the 11th century, when the Capetian dynasty of kings sought a means to render justice…
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property law

• legacy
  • In legacy
    In the French civil code and those countries that follow its pattern, however, the term heir is limited to the universal intestate successor. A person to whom a testator leaves his entire estate is called a légataire universel; when the estate is divided, the beneficiaries are called…
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• movable and immovable property
  • In movable and immovable
    Thus, in French law, standing crops are movables; farm implements and animals are immovables (largely because they are thought to serve the land and be components of it). In German law, the distinction is somewhat clearer: immovables are tracts of land and their component parts; movables are…
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• patent system
  • 
    In patent
    France enacted its patent system the following year. By the end of the 19th century, many countries had patent laws, and today there are more than 100 separate jurisdictions regarding patents.
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• prescription
  • In prescription
    In France, in the 16th century, possession over a period of 10–20 years in good faith and with title conferred ownership; 30 years was necessary without either.
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• private property
  • 
    In property law: Marxism, liberalism, and the law
    …marked by the promulgation in France of the Napoleonic Civil Code (1804), a systematic and comprehensive code of private noncommercial law that was to have great influence in the European codification movement that followed. The code is notable for its reluctance to recognize interests in property other than the owner’s.
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  • 
    In property law: Protection of the family against intentional disinheritance
    The French system is notable for the fact that it divides the deceased’s property between his maternal and paternal kin if there are no descendants. The German system is more like the Anglo-American.
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tax law

• family unit
  • 
    In income tax: Treatment of the family
    In France the family is the taxable entity; there is only one rate schedule, but relief for family commitments is achieved by what is known as the family-quotient system. This is a form of income splitting in which the single graduated rate schedule is applied to…
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• income tax history
  • 
    In income tax: Continental Europe
    …enact an income tax in France were begun in the 1870s, but it was not until 1909 that an income tax bill finally passed the Chamber of Deputies, only to be held up by opposition in the Senate. The bill was finally enacted as an emergency measure two weeks before…
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torts

• In tort: Presumptions of fault and responsibility
  …most forthright developments occurred in France, where the courts transformed the code to accommodate problems arising in an industrial society.
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• negligence
  • 
    In negligence
    Germanic and French law early maintained very stringent liability for accidents and still do. Negligence became a basis of liability in English law only in 1825.
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