France makes use of ‘Civil Legal’ system, i.e. the law arises preliminarily from the written statutes. Laws are not made by judges. They just interpret them, even though amount of interpretation of judge in some areas equates it to the case law. Essential principles of ‘Rule of Law’ had been laid in Napoleonic Code. As per principles of ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen’, the law must prohibit only those actions that are detrimental to the society. As the 1st president of Court of Cassation, Guy Canivet penned down about prison management:
“Freedom is nothing but the rule. Restriction of it is exception. Any restriction pertaining to freedom should be provided by/for law and should follow principles of proportionality and necessity”.
In other words, Law must lay out the exclusions only if need arises, and if inconveniences resulting out of this restriction don’t exceed inconveniences supposed to be remedied by prohibition. This ideal, often gets lost when the making of laws comes in to picture.
French law has been divided in to 2 principal areas: public law and private law. Public law, in particular, includes constitutional law and administrative law. Practically, however, French Law consists of 3 principal fields of law: administrative law, criminal law, and civil law.
France doesn’t recognize religious laws. It also does not recognize morality or religious beliefs, as they act as motivations for improvement of prohibitions. Consequently, since long, France neither had sodomy laws nor blasphemy laws. Sodomy laws were abolished in the year 1791.
Offences against ‘Breach of peace’ or ‘public decency’ are being used for repressing the public expressions regarding street prostitution or homosexuality. Remember that laws have the capacity of addressing not the past but the future. Ex post facto laws have been prohibited. For these laws to be valid, they must be published officially in Journal Officiel de la Republique Francaise.
Court of Cassation
The Court of Cassation can be referred to as the chief court ‘of the last resort’ in ‘France’. It holds a seat in Palais de Justice (Paris). Judges of this court finally appeal according to ‘normal system’ pertaining to justice, thereby excluding cases relating to administrative justice. These cases go before Conseil d’Etat.
Organization
This court itself consists of judges, administrative staff, and prosecution service. Besides, there’re lawyers committed to the practice at bar of Cour de cassation.
Chambers and Judges
In all, court is inclusive of around 85 judges and around forty assistant judges. They’re assigned to 6 different chambers. They include the 1st civil law chamber, 2nd civil law chamber, 3rd civil law chamber, financial, economic, and commercial law chamber, social law chamber, and criminal law chamber.
Each and every chamber consists of a main judge known as President. The court on the whole is being headed by a main judge known as First President. He is the highest officer in terms of judiciary of France. His responsibilities include disciplining the judges and administering courts. At present, Vincent Lamanda is the 1st President.
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