French Court System

The Principle of Dual Jurisdiction

The French court system is organized around a fundamental structural distinction unknown to common law systems: the separation of the judicial order (ordre judiciaire) and the administrative order (ordre administratif). This dual jurisdiction reflects the French revolutionary tradition that courts should not interfere with the administration — a principle derived from the Law of 16–24 August 1790, which forbade judicial courts from reviewing administrative acts. The result is two entirely separate hierarchies: one for private law and criminal law, culminating in the Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation), and another for public law, culminating in the Council of State (Conseil d’État).

When a dispute arises over which order has jurisdiction, the Tribunal des Conflits, composed of equal numbers of magistrates from the Court of Cassation and the Council of State plus a chair appointed by the Minister of Justice, resolves the conflict. Created in 1848 and restructured in 1872, the Tribunal des Conflits sits infrequently — about thirty cases per year — but its decisions have constitutional significance in demarcating the boundary between the two orders.

The Judicial Order: Private and Criminal Law

Court of Cassation

At the apex of the judicial order sits the Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation), located in the Palais de Justice on the Île de la Cité in Paris. Unlike supreme courts in common law systems, the Court of Cassation does not re-try cases. It reviews judgments of lower courts solely on questions of law. When it grants a petition (pourvoi en cassation), it either affirms the lower court’s decision (rejet) or quashes it (cassation). When it quashes, it remits the case to a different lower court of the same level for re-adjudication in light of the Court’s legal ruling. After a second cassation, the case may be sent to an assembled full court (assemblée plénière) of the Court of Cassation, whose decision on the point of law is binding.

The Court is divided into six civil chambers (première à sixième chambres civiles) and one criminal chamber (chambre criminelle). The assembled full court consists of the First President of the Court of Cassation, the presidents of the six chambers, and one representative from each chamber. The Court delivers approximately 25,000 judgments annually, making it one of the busiest supreme courts in Europe. The First President of the Court of Cassation is the highest-ranking judge in the judicial order and exercises significant administrative authority.

Courts of Appeal

There are 36 Courts of Appeal (Cours d’Appel) in metropolitan France and the overseas territories. Each hears appeals from the tribunals within its territorial jurisdiction. Appeals are heard by a panel of three professional judges. The Court of Appeal may confirm the lower judgment, reverse it, or replace it. In criminal matters, the Cour d’Assises d’Appel, composed of a panel of three professional judges and nine lay jurors, retries cases de novo since the 2011 reform introduced the right to appeal assize verdicts.

Tribunal Judiciaire

The Tribunal Judiciaire, created by the 2019 judicial reform (loi de programmation 2018–2022 et de réforme pour la justice) which merged the former Tribunaux de Grande Instance and Tribunaux d’Instance, is the common first-instance court for civil matters. There is one Tribunal Judiciaire in each department. Within the Tribunal Judiciaire, specialized chambers handle family law (juge aux affaires familiales), property disputes, civil liability, and other matters. The presiding judge (président du tribunal judiciaire) exercises emergency jurisdiction (référé) to grant urgent provisional measures. The Tribunal Judiciaire also hears the most serious criminal cases not reserved to the Cour d’Assises, sitting as the correctional court (tribunal correctionnel) for délits.

Specialized Commercial Courts

The Tribunaux de Commerce are specialized first-instance courts composed entirely of elected lay judges (juges consulaires). There are 134 commercial courts in France, staffed by approximately 3,500 elected judges drawn from the business community. These judges serve part-time and receive no salary. The commercial courts handle disputes between merchants, corporate law matters, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, and commercial property disputes. An appeal lies to the Court of Appeal. The commercial court system has been criticized for lack of professional legal training among its judges, but defenders argue that business expertise compensates for legal qualifications. Reforms since 2015 have required initial and ongoing training for commercial court judges.

Employment Tribunals: Conseil de Prud’hommes

The Conseil de Prud’hommes is the specialized court for individual employment disputes. It is composed of lay judges elected from employer and employee organizations (conseillers prud’hommes) in equal numbers. Each of the 210 Conseils de Prud’hommes in France is divided into five sections covering different economic sectors: industry, commerce, agriculture, services, and miscellaneous. Before hearing a case, the court must attempt conciliation. If conciliation fails, the case is judged by a panel of two employer and two employee representatives. If they are equally divided, a professional judge from the Tribunal Judiciaire casts the deciding vote (départage). Appeals lie to the social chamber of the Court of Appeal.

Cour d’Assises

The Cour d’Assises is the criminal court for the most serious offences (crimes), carrying penalties of ten years’ imprisonment to life. It sits in each department and is composed of three professional judges and six lay jurors (nine for the Cour d’Assises d’Appel following the 2011 reform that introduced a right to appeal assize judgments). The jury and judges deliberate jointly on both guilt and sentence, with a two-thirds majority required for a guilty verdict on the most serious matters. The presiding judge (président de la Cour d’Assises) is a senior magistrate from the Court of Appeal.

The Administrative Order: Public Law

Council of State

The Council of State (Conseil d’État) is both the supreme administrative court and the legal advisor to the executive government. This dual function is a distinctive feature of the French administrative law tradition. As a court, the Conseil d’État is the final appellate instance for administrative decisions; it also has original jurisdiction over certain important cases, including challenges to presidential and prime ministerial decrees and disputes concerning the legality of elections. As an advisor, it examines all bills, ordinances, and certain government decrees before their adoption.

The Conseil d’État is composed of approximately 300 members, recruited through the National School of Administration (École Nationale d’Administration, ENA, since 2022 the Institut National du Service Public, INSP) and through external appointments. Members are career civil servants, not professional judges, though they exercise judicial functions. The Conseil sits in six judicial sections (sections du contentieux), each specializing in a subject area (interior, finance, public works, social affairs, litigation on administrative matters, and a litigation coordination section).

Administrative Courts and Administrative Courts of Appeal

At the first instance, there are 42 Administrative Tribunals (Tribunaux Administratifs), which handle the vast majority of administrative litigation — challenges to administrative decisions, public contracts, liability of public authorities, and tax disputes. Appeals lie to one of eight Administrative Courts of Appeal (Cours Administratives d’Appel), created in 1987 to relieve the Conseil d’État of the growing appellate caseload. The Council of State reviews decisions of the administrative courts of appeal through cassation.

The Constitutional Council

The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel), established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (1958), is a specialized constitutional body with mixed judicial and political functions. It consists of nine members appointed for single nine-year non-renewable terms: three appointed by the President of the Republic, three by the President of the National Assembly, and three by the President of the Senate. In addition, former Presidents of the Republic are ex-officio life members, though most have chosen not to sit in recent decades.

Since the constitutional reform of 2008 (effective 2010), the Constitutional Council can review enacted legislation for constitutionality through the question prioritaire de constitutionnalité (QPC), which allows any party in litigation to challenge the constitutionality of a statute on the ground that it violates rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The QPC has transformed the Constitutional Council from a largely abstract, a priori review body into a true constitutional court hearing concrete cases referred by the ordinary and administrative courts.

The Constitutional Council also exercises mandatory a priori review of organic laws and parliamentary standing orders, and optional a priori review of ordinary statutes at the request of the President, the Prime Minister, the President of either house, or 60 deputies or senators. It supervises presidential and parliamentary elections and referendums.

The Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature

The Higher Council of the Judiciary (Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature, CSM) is the constitutional body responsible for the discipline and appointment of judges. Under the Constitution as revised in 2008, the CSM is composed of two formations: one for judges (magistrats du siège) and one for prosecutors (magistrats du parquet). The CSM consists of the First President of the Court of Cassation, the Procureur Général near the Court of Cassation, and an equal number of magistrates, judges, prosecutors, and lay members appointed by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, and the President of the Senate.

The CSM rules as a disciplinary council for judges and prosecutors. It also makes recommendations for the appointment of judges to the Court of Cassation, the First Presidents of Courts of Appeal, and the Presidents of Tribunaux Judiciaires. Its opinions are binding on the appointing authority in some cases and advisory in others.

Judicial Recruitment: The École Nationale de la Magistrature

Unlike common law systems where judges are appointed from the practising bar, French judges are recruited through a competitive civil service system centred on the École Nationale de la Magistrature (ENM) in Bordeaux. Candidates must pass a highly competitive entrance examination. Approximately 300 to 400 candidates are admitted each year from several thousand applicants. They complete a 31-month professional training program, including courses in criminal law, civil procedure, judicial ethics, and practical placements in courts, prosecutors’ offices, law firms, and administrative agencies. After graduation, they are assigned to their first post as juges d’instruction, juges des enfants, juges d’application des peines, or in other entry-level positions.

The ENM system produces a career judiciary (la magistrature) in which judges and prosecutors belong to the same corps and receive the same training. The French distinction between magistrats du siège (judges, who are independent and irremovable) and magistrats du parquet (prosecutors, who are hierarchically subordinate to the Minister of Justice) is fundamental to the structure of the judicial order. Prosecutors are organized in a hierarchy headed by the Procureur Général near the Court of Cassation, with the Minister of Justice at the apex. The Minister may issue general instructions to prosecutors but cannot issue instructions in individual cases, a limitation formalized by statute in 2013.

There are approximately 8,500 magistrats in France, including both judges and prosecutors. The corps is relatively small compared to the population, and French judges handle among the highest caseloads per judge in Europe. The principle of the career judiciary — in which judges enter the profession directly from specialized training and advance through a structured career — is a defining feature of the French legal tradition.