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Concept
Law of France
Summary
French law has a dual jurisdictional system comprising private law (droit privé), also known as judicial law, and public law (droit public).
Judicial law includes, in particular:
Civil law (droit civil)
Criminal law (droit pénale)
Public law includes, in particular:
Administrative law (droit administratif)
Constitutional law (droit constitutionnel)
Together, in practical terms, these four areas of law (civil, criminal, administrative and constitutional) constitute the major part of French law.
The announcement in November 2005 by the European Commission that, on the basis of powers recognised in a recent European Court of Justice ("ECJ") ruling, it intends to create a dozen or so European Union ("EU") criminal offences suggests that one should also now consider EU law ("droit communautaire", sometimes referred to, less accurately, as "droit européen") as a new and distinct area of law in France (akin to the "federal laws" that apply across States of the US, on top of their own State law), and not simply a group of rules which influence the content of France's civil, criminal, administrative and constitutional law.
Legislation is seen as the primary source of French law. Unlike in common law jurisdictions, where a collection of cases and practices (known as the "common law") historically form the basis of law, the French legal system emphasizes statutes as the primary source of law. Despite this emphasis, some bodies of law, like French administrative law, were primarily created by the courts (the highest administrative court, the Conseil d'État). Lawyers often look to case law (la jurisprudence) and legal scholarship (la doctrine) for reliable, but non-binding, interpretation and statements of the law.
French legislative sources can be classified into four categories:
Constitutional laws,
Treaties,
Parliamentary statutes (loi), and
Government regulations (règlements).
French legislation follows a hierarchy of norms (hiérarchie des normes). Constitutional laws are superior to all other sources, then treaties, then parliamentary statutes (loi), then government regulations.
Official source
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