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62-617: While it is classified as a regional language of France , it also has recognized status as a regional language in Wallonia , a region of Belgium. Champenois is considered an endangered language by the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages . The language of Chrétien de Troyes is marked by Champenois traits and Rashi used Champenois in his commentaries, but the earliest literature to survive consciously written in Champenois

124-662: A Gallo-Romance language , is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional languages are also spoken to varying degrees, such as Alsatian , a German dialect (specifically Alemannic ; spoken by 1.44% of the national population); Basque , a language isolate ; Breton , a Celtic language (spoken by 0.61%); Corsican , an Italo-Dalmatian language ; and various other Gallo-Romance languages ( Langues d'oïl 1.25%, Occitan 1.33%). Some of these languages are also spoken in neighbouring countries, such as Belgium , Germany , Switzerland , Italy , Andorra , or Spain . The official language of

186-494: A current and/or historical use, such as Occitan, which was already being written at a time when French was not and its literature has continued to thrive, with a Nobel Prize for Frédéric Mistral in 1904. It is estimated that at the time of the French Revolution in 1789, only half of the population of France could speak French, and as late as 1871 only a quarter spoke French as their native language. The topic of

248-447: A general nature. Also, politicians believed that, if courts could quash legislation after it had been enacted and taken into account by citizens, there would be too much legal uncertainty: how could a citizen plan his or her actions according to what is legal or not if laws could a posteriori be found not to hold? Yet, in the late 20th century, courts, especially administrative courts, began applying international treaties, including law of

310-652: A limited extent (i.e. without granting them official status) and the Délégation générale à la langue française has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had et aux langues de France added to its title. The category of languages of France (in French: langues de France ) is thus administratively recognised even if this does not go so far as to provide any official status. Following his election as president, François Hollande reasserted in 2012 his campaign platform to ratify

372-569: A recognised or official status in the respective neighbouring state or territory. French itself is also a cross-border language, being spoken in neighbouring Andorra , Belgium , Italy , Luxembourg , Monaco , and Switzerland . Mother tongues of the French population (2007 AES) According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the European Union and carried in France by

434-483: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Belgium-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about Romance languages is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Languages of France Of the languages of France , French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution . French,

496-465: Is also recognised as a language of France (with at least one regional variant in Provence). A large number of immigrant languages are spoken in France, with a handful having a significant number of home speakers. (Figures as of 2000) At the 1999 census, INSEE sampled 380,000 adult people all across Metropolitan France , and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions

558-544: Is compulsory for some acts, such as for organic bills , those which fundamentally affect government, and treaties, which need to be assessed by the council before they are considered ratified (Article 61-1 and 54). Amendments concerning the rules governing parliamentary procedures need to be considered by the council as well. Guidance may be sought from the council in regard to whether reform should come under statute law (voted by Parliament) or whether issues are considered as règlement (regulation) to be adopted with decree of

620-424: Is noted from the end of the 16th century. Le Bontemps de Carnaval de Chaumont was updated and republished in 1660. The language used contrasts the French spoken by the king's messengers with the Champenois of the local inhabitants. A feature of 18th century Champenois literature was the noëls (Christmas chants), which wove contemporary and local references into pious texts. This article about French culture

682-626: Is now moot , since the Parliament redefined the rules of responsibility of the president of the republic by the French constitutional law of 23 July 2008 . In 1999, because of the Elf scandal , Dumas took official leave from the Council and Yves Guéna assumed the interim presidency. In 2005, the council again attracted some controversy when Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Simone Veil campaigned for

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744-762: Is the highest constitutional authority in France . It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the Palais-Royal in Paris . Its main activity is to rule on whether proposed statutes conform with the Constitution, after they have been voted by Parliament and before they are signed into law by

806-439: The European Union , as superior to national law. A 2009 reform, effective on 1 March 2010, enables parties to a lawsuit or trial to question the constitutionality of the law that is being applied to them. The procedure, known as question prioritaire de constitutionnalité , is broadly as follows: the question is raised before the trial judge and, if it has merit, is forwarded to the appropriate supreme court (Council of State if

868-624: The Insee and based on a sample of 15,350 people, French was the mother tongue of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). People who spoke other languages natively made up the remaining 5.2% of the population. The regional languages of Metropolitan France include: There are also several languages spoken in France's overseas areas (see Administrative divisions of France for details): French Sign Language

930-416: The president of the republic ( a priori review), or passed by the government as a decree, which has law status in many domains, a right granted to the government under delegation of Parliament. Since 1 March 2010, individual citizens who are party to a trial or a lawsuit have been able to ask for the council to review whether the law applied in the case is constitutional ( a posteriori review). In 1971,

992-604: The president of the republic , the president of the National Assembly and the president of the Senate . The president of the Constitutional Council is selected by the president of the republic for a term of nine years. If the position becomes vacant, the oldest member becomes interim president. Following the 2008 constitutional revision , appointments that the president of the republic makes to

1054-543: The prime minister . The re-definition of legislative dispositions as regulatory matters initially constituted a significant share of the (then light) caseload of the council. In the case of other statutes, seeking the oversight of the council is not compulsory. However, the president of the republic, the president of the Senate , the president of the National Assembly , the prime minister of France , 60 members of

1116-453: The " Cahiers commentaries" ( commentaires aux Cahiers ). The purpose of the Cahiers , as summed up by its then-editor, was also to "express the policy of dialogue of the Constitutional Council with academia as well as with foreign courts". Each issue included a special feature, as well as an article on a foreign constitutional court , authored by legal scholars and researchers. With

1178-418: The Constitutional Council brings to bear on the acts of the executive branch has played an increasingly large role, the politicians who have framed the successive French institutions have long been reluctant to have the judiciary review legislation. The argument was that un-elected judges should not be able to overrule directly the decisions of the democratically elected legislature. This may also have reflected

1240-422: The Constitutional Council should abstain from partisanship . They should refrain from making declarations that could lead them to be suspected of partisanship. The possibility for former presidents to sit in the council is a topic of moderate controversy; some see it as incompatible with the absence of partisanship. René Coty , Vincent Auriol , Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy are

1302-465: The Constitutional Council. The Court of Cassation (supreme court over civil and criminal courts) and the Council of State (supreme court over administrative courts) each filter the requests coming from the courts under them. Lois organiques , and other decisions organizing how this system functions, were subsequently adopted. The revised system was activated on 1 March 2010. On 29 December 2012,

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1364-489: The European Charter and ensure a clear legal framework for regional languages (within a programme of administrative decentralisation that would give competencies to the regions in language policy). The regional languages of France are sometimes called patois , but this term (roughly meaning "dialects") is often considered derogatory. Patois is used to refer to essentially oral languages, even though some have

1426-733: The European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America). Although ratification was blocked by the Constitutional Council as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to

1488-429: The French Republic is French (art. 2 of the French Constitution ) and the French government is, by law , compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising be available in French (though it can also use other languages). The French government, however, does not mandate the use of French by private individuals or corporations or in any other media. A revision of

1550-604: The French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008. The 1999 Report written for the government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Of those languages, 24 are indigenous to

1612-577: The French people. In 1971, however, the Council ruled unconstitutional ( Decision 71-44DC ) some provisions of a law changing the rules for the incorporation of private nonprofit associations, because they infringed on freedom of association, one of the principles of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ; they used the fact that the preamble of the French constitution briefly referred to those principles to justify their decision. For

1674-405: The National Assembly, or 60 Senators can submit a statute for examination by the council before its signing into law by the president. In general, it is the parliamentary opposition that brings laws that it deems to infringe civil rights before the council. Another task, of lesser importance in terms of number of referrals, is the reclassification of statute law into the domain of regulations on

1736-415: The Republic , prime minister , ministers and their services and affiliated organisations); a legislative branch (both houses of Parliament ); and a judicial branch . The judicial branch does not constitute a single hierarchy: For historical reasons, there has long been political hostility in the nation to the concept of a "Supreme Court"—that is, a powerful court able to quash legislation, because of

1798-432: The case can obtain the cancellation of these regulations by the Council of State , on grounds that the executive has exceeded its authority. Furthermore, the Council of State can quash regulations on grounds that they violate existing statute law, constitutional rights, or the "general principles of law". In addition, new acts can be referred to the Constitutional Council by a petition just prior to being signed into law by

1860-410: The constitutional objective that law should be accessible and understandable, law should be precise and clear, and devoid of details or equivocal formulas. The practice of the Parliament putting into laws remarks or wishes with no clear legal consequences has been a long-standing concern of French jurists. As of 2004 , one law out of two, including the budget, was sent to the council at the request of

1922-445: The council are subject to a parliamentary approval process, where the relevant committee in the Senate and the National Assembly votes on the appointee. If greater than three-fifths of the members of either committee vote against confirming the appointee, then the appointee must be withdrawn by the president of the republic . A quorum of seven members is imposed unless exceptional circumstances are noted. Votes are by majority of

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1984-444: The council itself, although the office and secretary general assist with the bulk of the legal research for its decisions. They do not have the force of law, although they are increasingly mentioned in arguments before the council, and occasionally in lower courts. Since 2010, they are no longer published in the subsequent issue of the periodical, but online at the same time as the decision. They are however still commonly referred to as

2046-544: The council ruled that conformity with the Constitution also entails conformity with two other texts referred to in the preamble of the Constitution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the preamble of the constitution of the Fourth Republic , both of which list constitutional rights . Members are referred to as les sages ("the wise") in the media and the general public, as well as in

2108-506: The council said it was overturning an upper income tax rate of 75% due to be introduced in 2013. In 1995, Roland Dumas was appointed president of the Council by François Mitterrand . Dumas twice attracted major controversy. First, he was reported as party to scandals regarding the Elf Aquitaine oil company, with many details regarding his mistress , Christine Deviers-Joncour, and his expensive tastes in clothing being published in

2170-551: The council was meant to have rather technical responsibilities: ensuring that national elections were fair, arbitrating the division between statute law (from the legislative) and regulation (from the executive), etc. The council role of safekeeping fundamental rights was probably not originally intended by the drafters of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic : they believed that Parliament should be able to ensure that it did not infringe on such rights. However,

2232-434: The council's activity has considerably extended since the 1970s, when questions of justice for larger groups of people became pressing. From 1958 to 1970, under Charles de Gaulle 's presidency, the Constitutional Council was sometimes described as a "cannon aimed at Parliament", protecting the executive branch against encroachment by statute law voted by Parliament. All but one referral to the Constitutional Council came from

2294-413: The council's intents. Starting in 1996, the Cahiers "Decisions and Documents of the Constitutional Council" section included analyses of recent decisions, formally called "commentaries" from November 2008. Commentaries became extensive, widely read and used by the legal community and the media. They are written by the council's Legal Office and secretary general, and unsigned; they are not approved by

2356-403: The council's own documents. Legal theorist Arthur Dyevre notes that this "tends to make those who dare criticise them look unwise." Since 2016, Laurent Fabius has served as President of the Constitutional Council ( Président du Conseil constitutionnel ) following his appointment by President François Hollande . The Council has two main areas of power: Examination of laws by the council

2418-547: The curriculum and funding of public schools are already too strained. The topic also leads to wider controversial questions of autonomy of the régions . Regarding other languages, English, Spanish, Italian and German are the most commonly studied foreign languages in French schools. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang , stated formally that "Depuis plus de deux siècles, les pouvoirs politiques ont combattu les langues régionales", ie for more than two centuries,

2480-462: The duration of a campaign. Veil defended herself by pointing to precedent; she said, "How is that his [Debré's] business? He has no lesson to teach me." The council is made up of former Presidents of the Republic who have chosen to sit in the Council (which they may not do if they become directly involved in politics again) and nine other members who serve non-renewable terms of nine years, one third of whom are appointed every three years, three each by

2542-449: The experience of citizens in the pre-Revolutionary era. Whether the Constitutional Council is a court is a subject of academic discussion, but some scholars consider it effectively the supreme court of France. The Constitution of the French Fifth Republic distinguishes two kinds of legislation: statute law , which is normally voted upon by Parliament (except for ordonnances ), and government regulations, which are enacted by

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2604-558: The first time, a statute was declared unconstitutional not because it infringed on technical legal principles, but because it was deemed to infringe on personal freedoms of citizens. In 1974, authority to request a constitutional review was extended to 60 members of the National Assembly or 60 senators. Soon, the political opposition seized that opportunity to request the review of all controversial acts. The Council increasingly has discouraged " riders " ( cavaliers ) – amendments or clauses introduced into bills that have no relationship to

2666-423: The idea that courts could quash legislation enacted by Parliament (though administrative courts could quash regulations produced by the executive). This reluctance was based in the French revolutionary era: pre-revolutionary courts had often used their power to refuse to register laws and thus prevent their application for political purposes, and had blocked reforms. French courts were prohibited from making rulings of

2728-846: The language before the age of five (see note #3 below) are added together, the five most widely spoken languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many bilingual people are now counted twice): The following languages are listed as having 50,000 or more total speakers in Metropolitan France according to the 2022 edition of Ethnologue . Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages (such as Arabic , Persian , Malay , Pashto , and Chinese , encompassing all their respective varieties ) are not included in this section. Constitutional Council of France The Constitutional Council ( French : Conseil constitutionnel ; French pronunciation: [kɔ̃sɛj kɔ̃stitysjɔnɛl] )

2790-410: The members present at the meeting; the president of the council has a casting vote in case of an equal split. For decisions about the incapacity of the president of the republic, a majority of the members of the council is needed. The members of the Constitutional Council are sworn in by the president of the republic. Former presidents have the option to sit if they choose to do so. The members of

2852-590: The only former Presidents of France to have sat in the Constitutional Council. As of 2022 , the current sitting members of the Constitutional Council are: As of 2020 , the following members do not sit but can if they choose to: As of 2023 , the following individuals have served as President of the Constitutional Council: The council created a periodical in 1996, Les Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel , from October 2010 (No. 29) Les Nouveaux Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel . This

2914-435: The opposition. In January 2005, Pierre Mazeaud, then president of the council, publicly deplored the inflation of the number of constitutional review requests motivated by political concerns, without much legal argumentation to back them on constitutional grounds. The French constitutional law of 23 July 2008 amended article 61 of the Constitution. It now allows for courts to submit questions of unconstitutionality of laws to

2976-636: The original topic of the bill; for instance, "budgetary riders" in the Budget bill, or "social riders" in the Social security budget bill. See legislative riders in France . In January 2005, Pierre Mazeaud , then president of the Constitutional Council, announced that the council would take a stricter view of language of a non-prescriptive character introduced in laws, sometimes known as "legislative neutrons". Instead of prescribing or prohibiting, as advocated by Portalis , such language makes statements about

3038-444: The political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognised, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. Some of the languages of France are also cross-border languages (for example, Basque , Catalan , Corsican , Dutch , Franc-Comtois , Franco-Provençal , Norman , Picard , Occitan and others), some of which enjoy

3100-402: The poor impression resulting from the political action of the parlements – courts of justice under the ancien régime monarchy: these courts often had chosen to block legislation in order to further the privileges of a small caste in the nation. The idea was that legislation was a political tool, and that the responsibility of legislation should be borne by the legislative body. Originally,

3162-420: The president of the republic. The most common circumstance for this is that 60 opposition members of the National Assembly , or 60 opposition members of the Senate request such a review. If the prime minister thinks that some clauses of existing statute law instead belong to the domain of regulations, he can ask the council to reclassify these clauses as regulations. Traditionally, France refused to accept

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3224-697: The press. In this period, the council issued some highly controversial opinions in a decision related to the International Criminal Court , in Decision 98–408 DC , declaring that the sitting president of the republic could be tried criminally only by the High Court of Justice, a special court organized by Parliament and originally meant for cases of high treason. This, in essence, ensured that Jacques Chirac would not face criminal charges until he left office. This controversial decision

3286-436: The prime minister and his government as decrees and other regulations ( arrêtés ). Article 34 of the Constitution exhaustively lists the areas reserved for statute law: these include, for instance, criminal law . Any regulation issued by the executive in the areas constitutionally reserved for statute law is unconstitutional unless it has been authorized by a statute as secondary legislation . Any citizen with an interest in

3348-559: The prime minister's request. This happens when the prime minister and his government wish to alter law that has been enacted as statute law, but should instead belong to regulations according to the Constitution. The prime minister has to obtain reclassification from the council prior to taking any decree changing the regulations. This, however, is nowadays only a small fraction of the council's activity: in 2008, out 140 of decisions, only 5 concerned reclassifications. The Government of France consists of an executive branch ( President of

3410-461: The prime minister, against acts of Parliament, and the council agreed to partial annulments in all cases. The only remaining referral came from the president of the Senate, Gaston Monnerville , against the 1962 referendum on direct election of the President of the Republic, which Charles de Gaulle supported. The Council ruled that it was "incompetent" to cancel the direct expression of the will of

3472-446: The proposed European Constitution , which was submitted to the French voters in a referendum. Simone Veil had participated in the campaign after obtaining a leave of absence from the council. This action was criticized by some, including Jean-Louis Debré , president of the National Assembly , who thought that prohibitions against appointed members of the council conducting partisan politics should not be evaded by their taking leave for

3534-411: The referral comes from an administrative court, Court of Cassation for other courts). The supreme court collects such referrals and submits them to the Constitutional Council. If the Constitutional Council rules a law to be unconstitutional, this law is struck down from the law books. The decision applies to everyone and not only to the cases at hand. While since the 19th century the judicial review that

3596-482: The separate publication of commentaries from 2010, it was more clearly turned into a law journal , upon which it became the Nouveaux Cahiers . It ran until April 2018, with two to four issues every year, published both in print and online. In September 2018, it was succeeded by Titre VII , named after title VII of the Constitution , which establishes the council. Publication is exclusively digital, on

3658-429: The state of the world, or wishes about what it should be. Previously, such language was considered devoid of juridical effects and thus harmless; but Mazeaud contended that introducing vague language devoid of juridical consequences dilutes law unnecessarily. He denounced the use of law as an instrument of political communication, expressing vague wishes rather than effective legislation. Mazeaud also said that, because of

3720-471: The teaching of regional languages in public primary and secondary schools is controversial. Proponents of the measure state that it would be necessary for the preservation of those languages and to show respect to the local culture. Opponents contend that local languages are often non-standardised (thus making curricula difficult), of dubious practical usefulness (since most are spoken by a small number of people, without any sizable corpus of publications) and that

3782-479: Was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of five. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999 . Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on Enquête familiale . When the people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to

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3844-628: Was done in view of a better communication over the council's decisions, especially following the 1993 controversy over the decision to strike down a government bill on the right of asylum , during which Prime Minister Édouard Balladur had publicly attacked the institution. Decisions of the council traditionally include an extremely short and purely formal judicial opinion , often relying of plain statements if not tautologies, leaving its rationale and its use of principles and precedents open to interpretation. Before 1996, secretaries general occasionally contributed articles in law reviews in order to clarify

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