France: IALS Library Guides

Contents

Guide last updated by Alice Tyson, November 2019

France (la République Française) is a unitary state and Republic, governed by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (4 October 1958). It is a civil law country with a legal system based on a hierarchy of legal sources (also known as the 'hierachy of norms').

The IALS Library has a good collection on the law of France: legislation, codes, law reports, print and electronic finding tools, academic treatises, and several academic law journals. As with all jurisdictions, priority is normally given to primary sources (statutes, cases) though with the greater importance of what the French call "doctrine" or scholarly legal literature in continental legal systems, the definition has to be broadened to include standard texts on the major fields of law. The databases Lexis360 and Le Doctrinal offer academic users access to electronic collections of legislation, case law, commentary and journals.

The Constitution is the supreme source of law in France. The consolidated version of the Constitution of 1958 is available on Legifrance in French, including amendments. It is also available from on World Constitutions Illustrated (part of the Hein Online database) in French, English and other languages).

Information about the constitution and historic versions can be found on the website of the Conseil Constitutionnnel.

French legislation includes the statutes (lois) passed by the French Parliament (Le Parlement which consists of the Assemblée Nationale and the Sénat) and ordonnances which are governmental measures approved by Parliament for a limited period. The executive can enact regulations (règlements) which take the form of décrets when issued by the President or the Prime Minister, and arrêtés when issued by ministers.

Session laws

All statutes and decrees and the more important arrêtés are published in the official gazette, called the Journal Officiel de la République Française. The Gazette is published daily and is cited as J.O. The freely available Legifrance website makes available the laws published in the Journal Officiel from 1947 to date. Texts from June 2004 to date are certified with an electronic signature. The print version of the Journal ceased in 2015.

Academic researchers at IALS Library can also access the Journal Officiel from both Lexis360 and Doctrinal. Currently Lexis360 is available to all users both onsite and remotely and Doctrinal is only available onsite at IALS Library.

Of historic interest, IALS has the Bulletin des lois (1789-1931).

Codes

Collections of the legislation in force are known as codes. The codes are in effect a framework for the major branches of the law. Codes are available on Legifrance in French..

Academic researchers at IALS can also find codes from the Law Databases page of the IALS Library website, on both Lexis360 and Le Doctrinal. Lexis360 reproduces Legifrance codes, some with added annotations/comments written by authors, academics and practitioners.

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 the best starting point to identify the law on a particular topic. The Codes Dalloz can also be a good source of law which is not code. They include many relevant pieces of legislation (lois, ordonnances, décrets, arrêtes, etc) as well as summaries of relevant jurisprudence (case law) and references to doctrinal writing.

Free online resources

Legifrance is the official portal offering public access to the legislation of France currently in force. "Les autres textes législatifs et réglementaires" offers a template to search for legislation by:

• "nature du texte" - type of legislation: loi, décret, etc.
• "numéro du texte" - the number of the text, e.g. 2002-73
• "date de signature" or "date de publication" - date signed or date published
• "recherche textuelle" - text search

The full consolidated and official versions of the codes are available in French on Legifrance. Also available on this site are English versions of the main codes, including civil and criminal.

Legifrance makes available the laws published in the Journal Officiel for free (1947 – to date). Texts from June 2004 to date are certified with an electronic signature.

Guides to using Legifrance are availble at www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Aide/Utilisation.

Commercial subscription databases

The following databases are available onsite at IALS for academic users.

Le Doctrinal includes:

• full text primary material for France including the Journal Officiel, the Codes, and decisions of the higher courts: Sources Officielles Françaises
• the treaties, legislation and court decisions of the European Union, in French: Sources Officielles Européennes

Lexis360 includes:

• Codes with annotations or commentary
• Journal Officiel

Here is a selection of citations to French legislation. The reference in brackets in each citation is to the Journal Officiel de la République Française. This series is not held by IALS Library, but it is available free on Legifrance.

Loi n° 2000-196 du 6 mars 2000, Loi instituant un Défenseur des enfants

(J.O n° 56 du 7 mars 2000 page 3536)

Décret n° 2000-601 du 30 juin 2000, Décret relatif au régime d'assurance chômage des travailleurs privés d'emploi

(J.O n° 151 du 1 juillet 2000 page 9963)

Ordonnance n° 2000-550 du 15 juin 2000, Ordonnance relative aux parties législatives des livres VII (Dispositions sociales) et IX (Santé publique vétérinaire et protection des végétaux) et à la mise à jour des parties législatives des livres Ier (Aménagement et équipement de l'espace rural), III (Exploitation agricole) et VI (Production et marchés) du code rural

(J.O n° 273 du 25 novembre 2000 page 18790)

Arrêté du 25 mai 1999 modifiant les arrêtés du 24 janvier 1994 modifiés relatifs respectivement aux caractéristiques du gazole et du gazole grand froid

(J.O n° 146 du 26 juin 1999 page 9377)

In France there are two separate court systems; the judicial system (which comprises civil and criminal courts and is known as l'ordre judiciaire) and the administrative system. A diagram showing the hierachy of the civil and criminal courts in the judicial system is available on the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.gouv.fr/organisation-de-la-justice-10031/lordre-judiciaire-10033/. Appeals from the courts of first instance are heard by one of appeal courts (Cours d'appel) and then the highest court in the system; the Cour de Cassation. Administrative cases are heard initially in the Tribunal Administratif and may go on appeal to the Cour Administrative d’appel. The highest administrative court is the Conseil d’Etat.

The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) is concerned with the constitutionality of legislation and the regularity of elections. It sits outside of the two court systems mentioned above.

Official series and websites

Cour de Cassation

Decisions from the Cour de Cassation are published in the following series of law reports, which the Institute Library holds from 1986 to 2007.

Bulletin des arrêts de la Cour de Cassation. (Paris: Imprimerie des Journaux Officiels, 1798-)

The Bulletin is split into two concurrent series  - Chambres civiles and Chambre Criminelle - and forms part of the Journal Officiel de la République française.

Decisions of the Cour de Cassation from the early 1960s onwards are now available on Legifrance under Jurisprudence. Some "grands arrêts" and "arrêts sélectionnés" are published on the website of the Cour de Cassation.

Conseil d'Etat

The decisions of the Conseil d'Etat are published in:

Recueil des décisions du Conseil d'Etat, du Tribunal des Conflits et des jugements des tribunaux administratifs, 1821- ; (IALS: 1905 -). It is known by the name of its 19th century editor, Lebon.

Summaries of important decisions are available on the website of the Conseil d'Etat. A selection are available in English at http://english.conseil-etat.fr/Judging. Decisions of the Conseil d'Etat are available on Legifrance under Jurisprudence.

Conseil Constitutionnel

Decisions of the Conseil Constitutionnel are available on Legifrance under Jurisprudence.

Commercial subscription databases

The Jurisprudence section on Lexis360 is a good source for case law. The database includes decisions of the Conseil constitutionnel, Conseil d'Etat, Cour de cassation, Cours d'appel and other French courts. Many of the cases include added commentary and analysis.

Le Doctrinal includes a digest of, and commentary on, significant French court decisions: Jurisprudence Clé.

Commercial print sources

Other than the official series and websites, court decisions can be found in the three recueils généraux.The most common way of looking up decisions of French courts is by the date of the decision or by the subject matter or keyword of the case. Indexes of party names are uncommon. The three recueils généraux are:

• Recueil Dalloz 
• Semaine Juridique
• Gazette du Palais

Other printed sources at IALS to try:

• Recueil des Décisions du Conseil d'Etat for CE decisions (IALS: 1905 -)
• Bulletin des Arrêts de la Cour de Cassation for decisions of the Cour de Cassation (IALS: 1986 - 2007)
• Droit Administratif for selected decisions in administrative law (IALS: 1964 -)

Other online resources for finding decisions

Legifrance provides a useful list of links to decisions and other documentation from the courts www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Sites/Juridictions.

Droit.Org and World Law: France are internet gateways which offer some selected coverage of jurisprudence or case law.

Here is a selection of citations to decisions of French courts:

The database Lexis360 includes a section called Encyclopédies, where users can access a collection of more than 50 JurisClasseurs and other legal encyclopedias. These are regularly revised. The encyclopédies include collections of texts, commentaries and case law.

IALS Library holds print copies of Encyclopédie juridique Dalloz titles including Répertoire de droit civil, Répertoire de droit public et administratif and Répertoire de droit international. Most of these works are looseleafs which are no longer updated at IALS and are shelved in the reserve collection. See the catalogue for full details.

Another encyclopaedic work shelved in the reserve collection is Juris-Classeurs, published by Editions Techniques. This work is in loose-leaf format, but is no longer updated at IALS. 

IALS 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. The following list of recent titles has been selected to illustrate briefly the range of subjects and publishers represented in the collection. Search the Library Catalogue for full details of library holdings. 

Dupre de Boulois X, Droit des libertés fondamentales (Presses universitaires de France 2018)

Favoreu L, Droit constitutionnel (21st edn, Dalloz 2018)

Merle P, Droit commercial : sociétés commerciales (Dalloz 2018)

Perrot R, Institutions judiciaires (17th edn  LGDJ  une marque de Lextenso 2018)

​Saint-Alary-Houin C, Droit des entreprises en difficulté (11th edn, LGDJ  une marque de Lextenso 2018)

Stefani G, Procédure pénale (26th edn, Dalloz 2017)

Terre F, Droit civil: law familie (Dalloz 2018)

Most of the Library's materials on French law are in French. Below is a list of selected works in English. Refer to the Library Catalogue for full details of library holdings.

Overviews

Bell J, French legal cultures (Butterworths 2001)

Bell J and others, Principles of French law (2nd edn, OUP 2008)

Elliott C and others, French legal system (2nd edn, Pearson / Longman 2006)

Steiner E, French law: a comparative approach (2nd edn, OUP 2018)

Codes

The French code of civil procedure in English, 2017 translated by Philip Raworth (Thompson Reuters 2017) [a new edition published in 2021 has been ordered and will be added to the collection]

The French civil code translated by Tony Weir (UCL Press 2006)

The French commercial code in English translated by Philip Raworth (Thomson Reuters 2018) [a new edition published in 2021 has been ordered and will be added to the collection]

Other recent works in English include

Bouche N, Intellectual property law in France (3rd edn, Wolters Kluwer 2017)

Despax M, Labour law in France (2nd edn, Wolters Kluwer 2017)

Duguet A, Medical law in France (2nd edn, Kluwer Law International 2018)

Lagesse P, Labour and employment compliance in France (6th edn, Kluwer Law International 2018)

Vogel L, French merger control (LexLaw 2018)

Printed journals

The Institute holds a number of French law journals in print. These include:

Archives de philosophie du droit (IALS: 1952-)

Droit d'auteur (IALS: 1953-1964)

Droit maritime français (IALS: 1927-)

Droits: revue française de théorie juridique (IALS: 1985-)

Recueil Dalloz (1924-)

Revue administrative (IALS: 1955-2014)

Revue de science criminelle et de droit pénal comparé (IALS: 1936-)

Revue française de droit administratif (IALS: 1985-)

Revue française de droit aérien et spatial (IALS: 1929-)

Revue génerale de droit international public (IALS: 1910-)

Revue générale des assurances terrestres (IALS: 1962-1995)

Revue historique de droit français et étranger (IALS: 1922-)

Revue juridique de l'environnement (IALS: 1984-)

Revue trimestrielle de droit civil (IALS: 1902-)

Revue trimestrielle de droit commercial et de droit économique (IALS: 1980-)

Revue trimestrielle de droit européen (IALS: 1980-)

Electronic journals and journal indexes

Lexis360 has over 40 law journals. Some are historic i.e. they may not include issues up to present day.

Le Doctrinal contains an index to French law journals. More than 300 journals are indexed, and the database is updated daily.  Some journals of international scope and in English are included in the index.  Data starts from 1993.

A small collection of full-text journals is available on Leixs Library International (enter Lexis Library International from the Sources tab of Lexis Library). This includes La semaine juridique - edition générale, La semaine juridique - entreprise et affaires, La semaine juridique - notariale et immobilière, La semaine juridique - social, revue loyers et copropriété and Revue procédures. At the time of writing it was not possible to browse the journals but they could be searched. 

A small number of journals published by Editions Dalloz are available in both print and online via the Dalloz Revues platform. The journals available are: Recueil dalloz, Revue critique de droit international prive standard, Revue critique de droit international prive, Revue de l'union europeenne, Revue de science criminelle et de droit penal compare, Revue francaise de droit administratif, Revue historique de droit francais et etranger, Revue trimestrielle de droit civil, Revue trimestrielle de droit commercial et de droit economique. All of these titles are available online from 2013 onwards. Use the IALS Library catalogue to locate the titles.

The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals covers journals from non-common law jurisdictions, international law and comparative law. It can be used to identify articles in French law journals on a particular legal topic.

Droit.org: Portail du Droit Français: a gateway site on French law

Eagle-i Internet Portal for Law: a guide to good quality law resources on the internet, including many concerned with French law

Germain's French Law Guide: a guide to the French legal system sources of French law written by Claire Germain

GlobaLex has an article on Researching French Law, by Stéphane Cottin and Jérôme Rabenou, published in June 2017

Jurisguide: guides to sources of French, European and international law produced by Cujas University library in collaboration with eleven other university libraries

The Judiciary in France: a guide to the French judiciary published in English by the Ministry of Justice

Legifrance: an official French site offering comprehensive access to legislation and case law

Vie-Publique.fr: a site published by La Documentation Française, giving access to many official publications and providing overviews of the key organs of governance and law making in France

World Law: France: a resource guide to French law on the WorldLII site