Key issues of the French judicial system:

• The law is broken into two main divisions: the judicial order which deals with private laws and the administrative order which deals with public, governmental, and international issues. There is a tribuneau des conflits (see vocabulary page) that decides which of the two orders will try a case.
• The judicial order has three levels of courts, much like the American system of trial, appeal, and supreme court. In France, they are called the première, deuxième and troisieme degrees. The highest court is called the Court de Cassation and is the third level.
• The judicial system in France is highly specialized. For instance, there are special courts that deal with rural, social security, commerce, labor, as well as social, commercial, and civil cases. This allows courts to specialize in a certain area of law and handle cases that are suited to their expertise.
• Just as in the United States, cases may take several years to pass from one court to another before a final decision is reached.
• Unlike the U.S., French lawyers and judges specialize early in their training to become either a judge or a lawyer. Also, judges may be sitting judges or standing judges. A sitting judge is a judge on the bench and a standing judge is more like a prosecutor who works for the government. This means that prosecutors can change back and forth from being a judge to being a prosecutor.
• Just like in the United States, each party in a lawsuit is entitled to be represented by a lawyer. However, an attorney does not question the accused. Questioning is done by a magistrate. The lawyer's job is to plead the case to the judge, based of course on the law and the facts.

Information for these key issues was taken from http://www.dcba.org/brief/aprissue/2001/art50401.htm

A very brief history lesson regarding the origins of the French judicial system

• The judicial system in France was founded on the principal of the separation of powers. This is very similar to the American idea of checks and balances. The French philosopher Montesquieu discussed this in his 18th century writings.
• French law. as American law is based upon the idea that man has a series of "natural" laws. In the U.S., we define natural laws as "life, liberty and the pursuit of hapiness".
• Napoléon played an important role as he codified the laws and established the first uniform judicial system. This was done as a reaction to the rule of kings that had been the norm for centuries. The idea was that every person could have a copy of the laws for himself. Thus, it was a system that was for the people and not just the aristocracy.
• The civil code (Code civil or Code Napoléon) was established in 1804.
• The penal code (code pénal) was established in 1810.

Important facts to know about the French judicial system!

The first constitution to govern France was written in 1791. Fourteen constitutions later, France is now governed by a constitution in a system that resembles the United States' judicial system. The constitution that governs the French is called the Gaullist Constitution of 1958. It was created in a referendum of September 28, 1958. The most important aspects of this constitutuon are:

• strong executive branch that shares power with a bicameral legislature
• President - elected every 5 years-chief of state and control of executive power
• Voting for president is via direct universal suffrage
• Government represented in parliment by the prime minister and cabinet members
• Prime Minister is appointed by the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) a
• Parliment consists of directly elected National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) members and a Senate elected by indirect suffrage.
• The constitution can be amended and is superior to state rules except in certain specific situations (the National Assembly and Senate must agree with a 3/5 majority)
• The constitution is actually composed of four components (1) the text of the 1958 Constitution itself; (2) its Preamble, which refers to the French commitment to the Rights of Man and principles of national sovereignty enshrined in the 1789 Déclaration, reaffirmed and complemented by the Preamble of the Constitution of 1946; (3) the Preamble to the 1946 Constitution itself which contains a long list of political, economic and social principles; (4) The 1946 Preamble itself refers not only to the 1789 Déclaration, but to les principes fondamentaux reconnus par les lois de la République.

http://www.justice.gouv.fr
http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr
http://www.assemblee-nat.fr
http://www.senat.fr
http://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr