Like Britain’S and US’s judicary systems Franch judicary system has basic features. These are:
— The procedural due process
— The principle that no action is punisable except on the basis of law.
— The rejection of ex post facto law.
— The presumotion of the innocence of the accused.
— The independence of the judicary .
But there are also some different features like the roles of judges in the courts or the usage of law. For example, Anglo-American judicary systems uses statue law but French system uses the rules of customand percedent when written laws or codes are insufficient. Also in US’s system judge directs the trial but in French system the judge can meddle with the trial .
The French judicary system dates back to Roman, especially the civil and the criminal codes, and they were revised by the Napoleonic civil code of 1804 and by the Penal code of 1810. Because of the antiquation of the code law and its assumptions French Parlament began to modernize the criminal code in 1959 .
Like in Turkey French judicary system have several types of legal professionals in addition to judges. These are:
i-) The Avocat: They always act in trials.
ii-) Notaries: They act in the preparation of contracts, wills…etc.
iii-) Fiduciaries: They concerned w.th the tax matters.
iv-) Conseilleurs Juridiques: They give general legal advice .
THE FRENCH COURT STRUCTURE
CIVIL CRIMINAL SPECIALIZED
476 Courts of First 476 Police Courts 282 Labor Courts
instance
181 Courts of Appeal 181 Higher Police 228 Commercial Courts
Courts
110 Social Security Courts
37 Courts of Appeal
412 Rent Tribunals
The courts of first instance are found in every district and there are many hihger courts. The criminal, civil and specialized courts are shown in the table. We know the duties of criminal
and civil courts. Specialized courts deal with the events like labor relations, social security matters, commericial disputes and the conflicts between farmers and landlords.
Supreme Court of Appeal
(Court de Cassation)
Also not shown in table, there are fuctionally specialized tribunals like administrative courts. They deal with the trials between the citizens and the civil servants .
There are also other courts and councils that we have to examine in the judicary system. The first is the Higher Council of the Magistrature. This body consist of the president of the republic, the minister of justice and nine others. These nine others consist of ; 2 are chosen by president’s discretion, 6 are the nominees of Court de Cassation, and 1 is the nominee of the Council of the State. The Higher Council of the Magistrature makes propasal for appointments of the judges of the Court de Cassation and the presiding Judges of The Courts of Appeal . This body acts as a disciplinary council for judges .
The second is the High Court of Justice. It is composed of the members elected in equal numbers by the National Assembly and the Senate for the time partical elections are done .
The third is the Constitutional Council. This council consist of nine members whose term last nine years and that are not be renewable. One third of the Constitutional Council must be renewed every three years . Three of its members are appointed by the President of the Republic, three by the President of the National Assambly and three by the President of the Senate . The duties of the Constitutional Council are:
1-) It controls the presidential and assembly elections
2-) It controls the referandums.
3-) It controls the parliamentary acts.
4-) If an unconstitutional law is tried to implemented, the Counstitutional Council removes that law.
5-) It acts as an advisor to prime minister when senate or National Assembly does not work .
As shown in the table Supreme Court or Court de Cassation is the last court of appeal. It consist of 24 base and 12 reserve members. The half of members are elected by the National Assembly and the half by the Senate. Members are renewed after the elections12. This court does not determine the facts in case but it determines the legallity of decisions taken by the lower court .
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