137-733: The Constitutional Council ( French : Conseil constitutionnel ; French pronunciation: [kɔ̃sɛj kɔ̃stitysjɔnɛl] ) 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
274-674: A cassation court (for criminal law) and a Supreme Court. In this system the Supreme Court is always the final authority, but criminal cases have four stages, one more than civil law does. On the court sits a total of nine justices. This number has been changed several times. Japan 's process for selecting judges is longer and more stringent than in various countries, like the United States and in Mexico . Assistant judges are appointed from those who have completed their training at
411-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
548-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
685-734: A court of first instance, is appealed to an appellate court, and then ends at the court of last resort. In France , the final authority on the interpretation of the law is the Council of State for administrative cases, and the Court of Cassation for civil and criminal cases. In the People's Republic of China , the final authority on the interpretation of the law is the National People's Congress . Other countries such as Argentina have mixed systems that include lower courts, appeals courts,
822-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
959-447: 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
1096-427: A higher norm, such as primary legislation , the provisions of the constitution , treaties or international law . Judges constitute a critical force for interpretation and implementation of a constitution, thus in common law countries creating the body of constitutional law. This is a more general overview of the development of the judiciary and judicial systems over the course of history. The most important part
1233-814: A law degree during the five years preceding their nomination. United States Supreme Court justices are appointed by the President of the United States and approved by the United States Senate . The Supreme Court justices serve for life term or until retirement. The Supreme Court is located in Washington, D.C. The United States federal court system consists of 94 federal judicial districts . The 94 districts are then divided up into twelve regional circuits. The United States has five different types of courts that are considered subordinate to
1370-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1507-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
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#17327648805531644-405: A revised Code of Canon Law ( Codex Iuris Canonici ) promulgated by Pope Benedict XV on 27 May 1917 obtained legal force. The Decretalists , like the post-glossators for Ius Civile , started to write treatises, comments and advises with the texts. Around the 15th century, a process of reception and acculturation started with both laws. The final product was known as Ius Commune . It
1781-536: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1918-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
2055-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
2192-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2329-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2466-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2603-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2740-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
2877-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
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#17327648805533014-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
3151-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3288-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3425-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3562-572: 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
3699-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3836-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3973-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4110-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4247-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
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4384-416: Is the responsibility of the executive ), but rather interprets, defends, and applies the law to the facts of each case. However, in some countries the judiciary does make common law . In many jurisdictions the judicial branch has the power to change laws through the process of judicial review . Courts with judicial review power may annul the laws and rules of the state when it finds them incompatible with
4521-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4658-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4795-594: The Glossa Ordinaria in 1263, ending the early scholastics. The successors of the Glossators were the Post-Glossators or Commentators. They looked at a subject in a logical and systematic way by writing comments with the texts, treatises and consilia , which are advises given according to the old Roman law. Canon law knows a few forms of laws: the canones , decisions made by Councils, and
4932-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5069-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
5206-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5343-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5480-439: 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
5617-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
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5754-823: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
5891-642: The Mexican Supreme Court are appointed by the President of Mexico , and then are approved by the Mexican Senate to serve for a fifteen-year term. Other justices are appointed by the Supreme Court and serve for six years. Federal courts consist of the 11 ministers of the Supreme Court, 32 circuit tribunals and 98 district courts. The Supreme Court of Mexico is located in Mexico City . Supreme Court Judges must be of ages 35 to 65 and hold
6028-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6165-753: The Supreme Court is the final authority on the interpretation of the federal Constitution and all statutes and regulations created pursuant to it, as well as the constitutionality of the various state laws; in the US federal court system , federal cases are tried in trial courts , known as the US district courts , followed by appellate courts and then the Supreme Court. State courts , which try 98% of litigation , may have different names and organization; trial courts may be called "courts of common plea", appellate courts "superior courts" or "commonwealth courts". The judicial system, whether state or federal, begins with
6302-1012: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6439-435: The decreta , decisions made by the Popes. The monk Gratian, one of the well-known decretists , started to organise all of the church law, which is now known as the Decretum Gratiani , or simply as Decretum . It forms the first part of the collection of six legal texts, which together became known as the Corpus Juris Canonici . It was used by canonists of the Roman Catholic Church until Pentecost (19 May) 1918, when
6576-406: The law in legal cases. The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets, defends, and applies the law in the name of the state . The judiciary can also be thought of as the mechanism for the resolution of disputes. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers , the judiciary generally does not make statutory law (which is the responsibility of the legislature ) or enforce law (which
6713-407: 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
6850-424: 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
6987-400: 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
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#17327648805537124-417: The "post-classical era of Roman law". The most important legal event during this era was the Codification by Justinianus: the Corpus Iuris Civilis . This contained all Roman Law. It was both a collection of the work of the legal experts and commentary on it, and a collection of new laws. The Corpus Iuris Civilis consisted of four parts: During the late Middle Ages, education started to grow. First education
7261-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
7398-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
7535-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
7672-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
7809-403: The Constitution, after they have been voted by Parliament and before they are signed into law by 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
7946-418: 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
8083-421: 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
8220-408: 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,
8357-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
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#17327648805538494-468: 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
8631-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
8768-497: The Legal Training and Research Institute located in Wako . Once appointed, assistant judges still may not qualify to sit alone until they have served for five years, and have been appointed by the Supreme Court of Japan . Judges require ten years of experience in practical affairs, as a public prosecutor or practicing attorney. In the Japanese judicial branch there is the Supreme Court, eight high courts, fifty district courts, fifty family courts, and 438 summary courts. Justices of
8905-403: 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
9042-415: 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
9179-418: The Republic. In these early years, the legal process consisted of two phases. The first phase, In Iure , was the judicial process. One would go to the head of the judicial system (at first the priests as law was part of religion) who would look at the applicable rules to the case. Parties in the case could be assisted by jurists. Then the second phase would start, the Apud Iudicem . The case would be put before
9316-425: The Supreme Court: United States bankruptcy courts , United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit , United States Court of International Trade , United States courts of appeals , and United States district courts . Immigration courts are not part of the judicial branch; immigration judges are employees of the Executive Office for Immigration Review , part of the United States Department of Justice in
9453-431: 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
9590-406: 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
9727-443: 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
9864-556: The council 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
10001-442: 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
10138-505: 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
10275-776: The council to review whether the law applied in the case is constitutional ( a posteriori review). In 1971, 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
10412-551: 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,
10549-508: 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
10686-464: 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
10823-648: The council's website and on the Cairn.info portal. Two issues are published every year, in the spring and autumn. The council has released annual reports ( rapports d’activité ) since 2016, in French and English. The council sits in the Palais-Royal (which also houses the Ministry of Culture ) in Paris near the Council of State . French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
10960-470: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system , judicature , judicial branch , judiciative branch , and court or judiciary system ) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies
11097-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
11234-517: 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
11371-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
11508-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
11645-550: The evidence to convince the judge. After the French Revolution , lawmakers stopped interpretation of law by judges, and the legislature was the only body permitted to interpret the law; this prohibition was later overturned by the Napoleonic Code . In common law jurisdictions, courts interpret law; this includes constitutions, statutes, and regulations. They also make law (but in a limited sense, limited to
11782-443: 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
11919-408: The facts of particular cases) based upon prior case law in areas where the legislature has not made law. For instance, the tort of negligence is not derived from statute law in most common law jurisdictions. The term common law refers to this kind of law. Common law decisions set precedent for all courts to follow. This is sometimes called stare decisis . In the United States court system ,
12056-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
12193-622: 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
12330-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
12467-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
12604-423: 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
12741-405: The judges, which were normal Roman citizens in an uneven number. No experience was required as the applicable rules were already selected. They would merely have to judge the case. The most important change in this period was the shift from priest to praetor as the head of the judicial system. The praetor would also make an edict in which he would declare new laws or principles for the year he
12878-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
13015-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
13152-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
13289-415: The largess of the empire. This process only had one phase, where the case was presented to a professional judge who was a representative of the emperor. Appeal was possible to the immediate superior. During this time period, legal experts started to come up. They studied the law and were advisors to the emperor. They also were allowed to give legal advice on behalf of the emperor. This era is also known as
13426-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
13563-435: The media and the general public, as well as in 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
13700-407: 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
13837-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
13974-589: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
14111-585: 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
14248-434: 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
14385-629: 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
14522-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
14659-399: 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,
14796-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
14933-536: 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
15070-614: 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
15207-435: 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
15344-558: 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
15481-514: 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
15618-446: 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
15755-410: 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
15892-781: The renewed interest in the old texts. The rediscovery of the Digesta from the Corpus Iuris Civilis led the university of Bologna to start teaching Roman law. Professors at the university were asked to research the Roman laws and advise the Emperor and the Pope with regards to the old laws. This led to the Glossators to start translating and recreating the Corpus Iuris Civilis and create literature around it: Accursius wrote
16029-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
16166-481: 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
16303-429: 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
16440-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
16577-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
16714-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
16851-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
16988-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
17125-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
17262-532: Was Ius Civile (Latin for "civil law"). This consisted of Mos Maiorum (Latin for "way of the ancestors") and Leges (Latin for "laws"). Mos Maiorum was a set of rules of conduct based on social norms created over the years by predecessors. In 451–449 BC, the Mos Maiorum was written down in the Twelve Tables . L' were rules set by the leaders, first the kings, later the popular assembly during
17399-499: Was a combination of canon law, which represented the common norms and principles, and Roman law, which were the actual rules and terms. It meant the creation of more legal texts and books and a more systematic way of going through the legal process. In the new legal process, appeal was possible. The process would be partially inquisitorial , where the judge would actively investigate all the evidence before him, but also partially adversarial , where both parties are responsible for finding
17536-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
17673-628: 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
17810-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
17947-553: Was elected. This edict is also known as praetorian law. The Principate is the first part of the Roman Empire, which started with the reign of Augustus . This time period is also known as the "classical era of Roman Law" In this era, the praetor's edict was now known as edictum perpetuum .which were all the edicts collected in one edict by Hadrian . Also, a new judicial process came up: cognitio extraordinaria (Latin for "extraordinary process"). This came into being due to
18084-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
18221-536: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
18358-486: Was limited to the monasteries and abbeys, but expanded to cathedrals and schools in the city in the 11th century, eventually creating universities. The universities had five faculties: arts, medicine, theology, canon law and Ius Civile , or civil law. Canon law, or ecclesiastical law are laws created by the Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church. The last form was also called secular law, or Roman law. It
18495-533: Was mainly based on the Corpus Iuris Civilis , which had been rediscovered in 1070. Roman law was mainly used for "worldly" affairs, while canon law was used for questions related to the church. The period starting in the 11th century with the discovery of the Corpus Iuris Civilis is also called the Scholastics , which can be divided in the early and late scholastics. It is characterised with
18632-542: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
18769-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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