Keith Mack
French case law can be found in a variety of sources, including official series and websites, court decisions, and academic journals. The IALS Library, for example, has a collection of French law materials such as legislation, codes, law reports, and journals. The University of Minnesota Law Library and Georgetown Law Library also provide guides to French legal research, including case law. Additionally, there are online databases such as Legifrance, which offers the content of the 'Journal Officiel' since 1990, as well as the full text of all Acts and decrees since 1978. Private vendors such as Lexis-Nexis France and Wolters-Kluwer also offer access to French case law for a fee. For those seeking English translations of French case law, resources are more limited, but the University of Texas's Institute for Transnational Law and the Council of Europe's CODICES database offer some translated decisions.
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What You'll Learn
Journals and law reports
French case notes, or notes d'arrêts, are essential to the study and practice of French law. They are learned and informed commentaries that are crucial to the full understanding of the actual decision. They are published in journals, which may also include portions of key cases in translation or describe them in depth.
The IALS Library has a good collection of French law journals, including academic law journals. The databases Lexis360 and Le Doctrinal offer academic users access to electronic collections of journals. The University of Exeter's Library Search will help you discover books, journals, and articles on your chosen topic. Two key online French Law databases, Dalloz & Lextenso, are recommended.
Some journals with special case note/case analysis sections include:
- L'actualité juridique: droit administratif (AJ or AJDA in citations)
- Revue trimestrielle de droit civil (RTDC, RTDciv, Rev. trim.dr.civ in citations)
- Revue du droit public et de la science politique (RDP or rev.dr.publ. in citations)
- Revue de science criminelle et de droit pénal comparé (RSC or Rev.sc.crim in citations)
Some other journals and law reports include:
- La Semaine Juridique INTL KJV80 .S45 (cancelled in 2012) – a weekly law journal covering all aspects of French law
- Bulletin des arrêts de la cour de Cassation – split into criminal and civil chambers
- Les Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel INTL K3 .A145 – a legal periodical specialising in decisions of the constitutional counsel and comparative analysis of the constitutions of other jurisdictions
- Recueil des décisions du Conseil constitutionnel INTL KJV4075.8 .F73 – the official reporter for decisions from the Constitutional Council
- Recueil Lebon (aka Recueil des décisions du Conseil D'État) France 100 C755 – includes decisions from the Tribunal des Conflits and selected decisions of the lower administrative courts
- Gazette du Palais (Gaz.Pal. or GP + year in citations) France 100 G289
- Recueil Dalloz (D. in citations) France 100 S619e
- Semaine Juridique or Juris-classeur périodique (Sem.Jur. or JCP + year in citations) France 300 S20
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Online databases
French case law can be found on online databases, some of which are open-access. The official website of the French Parliament's lower chamber, Assemblée nationale, provides full details of all parliamentary business and includes information in English, German, and Italian. France-Diplomatie, the web server of France's Department of Foreign Affairs, carries a wide range of information about France's politics, culture, and geography in six languages. Portail du gouvernement is the official site of the French Prime Minister's Office and provides information about the French government and official policy. The Journal Officiel publishes all official notices regarding French government business.
The IALS Library at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London produces valuable guides to research in law from different jurisdictions, including France. The IALS Library has a good collection of French legislation, codes, law reports, print and electronic finding tools, academic treatises, and several academic law journals. The IALS Library also holds print copies of Encyclopédie juridique Dalloz titles, including Répertoire de droit civil, Répertoire de droit public et administratif, and Répertoire de. Droit.org is another well-produced portal to information about the French legal system.
Legifrance is a free online database that contains a large amount of French case law. However, most of its content is not indexed by search engines, and a good knowledge of French legal vocabulary is required to find relevant documents. Juritel.info may be a better option for those who are not well-versed in French law, as it only indexes selected Francophone legal resources (over 2,000).
Lextenso is a French law database for case law and journal research. It contains articles and case law from French legal journals and reviews, including Gazette du Palais, Revue de Contracts, and Revue du Droit Public. The University of Exeter provides access to Lextenso Pack Academique, which includes the jurisprudence database (2 million decisions), with 1 million of those decisions from Courts of Appeal.
The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Transnational Law includes a limited number of translations of decisions from the Conseil d'État, Cour de cassation, and Conseil constitutionnel. Gallica, the digitization project of the BNdF, has nearly complete coverage of the Bulletin des arrêts de la Cour de cassation rendus en matière civile from 1804 to 1909 and the Bulletin des arrêts de la Cour de cassation rendus en matière criminelle from 1805 to 1953.
The Council of Europe's CODICES (Digest of Constitutional Cases) is a searchable database of constitutional cases from around the world, including more than 800 from France's Conseil constitutionnel as of July 2023. Some cases include summaries, and others are in full text; some, including many French case summaries, are available in English translation.
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Official guides and books
The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London produces valuable guides to research French law. The IALS Library has a good collection of French law books on various topics, with current material on the open shelves and older material kept in the reserve collection. French books are shelved in the GO13 classmark. The IALS Library has a good collection on the legislation, codes, law reports, print and electronic finding tools, academic treatises, and several academic law journals. The databases Lexis360 and Le Doctrinal offer access to electronic collections of legislation, case law, commentary and journals. The consolidated version of the Constitution of 1958 is available on Legifrance in French, including amendments. It is also available from World Constitutions Illustrated (part of the Hein Online database) in French, English and other languages.
The IALS Library regularly receives updated print versions of the Code Civil and the Code Pénal, in addition to many other compilations of French law published by Dalloz. The series is known as "Codes Dalloz" (formerly "Petits Codes Dalloz") and around 20 current volumes are available. These are easily recognised by their red covers, and many previous editions are in the reserve collection. The codes offer a systematic and thematic treatment of the current law and are a good starting point to identify the law on a particular topic.
The University of Exeter also provides access to French law resources. Lextenso is a French law database for case law and journal research. It includes the jurisprudence database (2 million decisions), with 1 million decisions from Courts of Appeal. Dalloz is another key online French law database, offering access to Dalloz actualite and Dalloz jurisprudences. Codes and revues sections are not included.
The Library of Congress has a Guide to Law Online: France, which includes links to free online resources regarding the country's constitution, executive, legislative and judicial branches, legal guides, and general sources. The Library of Congress also provides a list of selected legal reference materials relating to France, including statutory collections, case reporters, current regulations, and secondary source resources.
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University libraries
The University of Exeter's library offers access to two key online French law databases: Dalloz and Lextenso. The former includes legislation and case law in four major subject areas: administrative, business, civil, European, and international law. The latter provides access to the jurisprudence database, which includes 2 million decisions, 1 million of which are from Courts of Appeal.
The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London also has a good collection of French law books, with current material on open shelves and older material kept in the reserve collection. Their library guides also provide valuable information on French law research sources.
Georgetown Law Library maintains an extensive collection of French legal materials, including both primary law and secondary sources, in French and English. Their guides also provide information on free resources, such as the Law Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor, which offers analysis and commentary on significant developments in French law, and the University of Texas at Austin Institute for Transnational Law, which provides access to English translations of selected French court decisions.
The University of Texas at Austin also offers open access to translated decisions from the Conseil Constitutionnel, Conseil d'Etat, and Cour de Cassation, as well as a collection of commercial law cases.
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Court structure
The French legal system is divided into two branches: the judiciary and the administrative justice. Each branch has its own Supreme Court, which is responsible for publishing decisions. The judiciary branch, also known as the ordinary or judicial courts, deals with criminal and civil litigation. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the courts of minor jurisdiction, which may sit as police courts (tribunal de police) for summary offences or as civil courts (tribunal d'instance) for minor civil cases. Above these are the higher courts (grande instance) and lower courts (tribunaux d’instance) for civil cases, and tribunaux correctionnels and tribunaux de police for criminal cases. Decisions from these courts can be referred to one of the 35 (according to one source) or 36 (according to another) courts of appeal. Felonies are heard by assize courts, which consist of three judges and nine jurors.
The administrative branch, also known as the administrative courts (ordre administratif), supervise the government and handle complaints. These courts are under the control of the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat), which has eight courts of appeal (cours administratives d'appel) and 42 tribunaux administratifs (administrative courts of first instance). The Council of State plays a crucial role in ensuring that the government and administration comply with the law.
At the top of the judiciary branch is the Supreme Court of Appeals (Cour de cassation), which has jurisdiction over the lower courts. The Cour de cassation examines judgments to assess whether the law has been correctly interpreted and refers cases back to lower courts if it finds that it has not. Cases of high treason are heard by a High Court of Justice (Cour de Justice de la République), which is composed of members of the National Assembly and senators.
In addition to the Supreme Court and the Council of State, there is a third unique aspect to the French judiciary: the Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutionnel). This body reviews statutes before they are enacted, oversees national elections, and answers citizens' questions about the constitutionality of laws.
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Frequently asked questions
The IALS Library has a good collection of French law, including legislation, codes, law reports, and academic treatises. The University of Minnesota Law Library also has a small collection of translated cases.
The Cour de Cassation, Conseil d'Etat, and Conseil Constitutionnel are the three supreme courts that provide case law online. The Cour de Cassation also has a bulletin, the Bulletin des Arrêts de la Cour de Cassation, which is available online. The Legifrance website is another good source for French case law, providing the content of the Journal Officiel since 1990.
Lexis360 and Le Doctrinal are databases that offer access to electronic collections of French case law, commentary, and journals. The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Transnational Law includes translations of decisions from the Conseil d'Etat, Cour de cassation, and Conseil constitutionnel.
La Semaine Juridique is a weekly law journal that covers all aspects of French law, including civil, public, commercial, and social law. L'actualité juridique: droit administratif is another journal that includes case notes and case analysis sections.
In France, the justice system is divided into two branches: the judiciary and the administrative justice. Each branch has its own Supreme Court, the Cour de cassation and the Conseil d'Etat, which publish their decisions on separate databases.
