In France the jurisdictions of the ordre judiciaire, of the French court system are empowered to try either litigation between persons or criminal law cases. They may intervene: in the matter of contention in litigation between persons in the domaine gracieux (when the jurisdiction is asked to authorize something, a change of marital status for example) On an exceptional basis the judiciary may also become involved in certain litigation between an individual and the State or some other public person. Such litigation would include matters of expropriation, for example, where the expropriated party does not agree with the indemnification amount. Traffic accidents in which one of the vehicles belongs to the government would also fall under the jurisdiction of this court, as well, in this instance, as that of the juge civil, who also has the power to act; another example would be a case when the propriety of a contrôle d'identité is contested and needs to be determined.
Legal context
Two degrés de juridiction, (degrees of jurisdiction), often exist in French law:
One jurisdiction where the facts of the matter are judged For example, in penal law: did the defendant in fact do what he is accused of? The other jurisdiction is law. For example, also in penal law: if the defendant did do that, what legal rules apply?
The Court of Cassation hears appeals of the verdicts rendered by the courts of the above two jurisdictions. The Court of Cassaction itself only judges matters of law; it does not re-try the facts a third time.
The French legal system distinguishes between
civil jurisdictions charged with litigation between persons, and
penal jurisdictions, which judge accusations of criminality and may apply sanctions pénales, criminal penalties.
Evolution since the French Revolution
The organization of the French judiciary was first addressed by the loi des 16 et 24 août 1790, (law of August 16 and 24 1790), which established the justices de paix, (justices of the peace), as well as the tribunaux de districts, (district tribunals). The justices and the tribunaux served in turn as courts of first instance, (première instance) and appeal courts, in rotation. The same law also provided for tribunaux de commerce, commercial tribunals.
For criminal and penal matters, tribunaux criminels (criminal tribunals), which included a jury, were created.
The Constitution of the Year VIII reorganized the court system. It retained the justices of the peace but separated the courts of first instance from the appeal tribunals, which would become the appeal courts.
The first juridictions de prud'hommes were created in 1806. In penal matters, judgment by a jury is reserved for crimes, a serious crime punishable by ten years or more in prison.
In 1958, justices of the peace were eliminated and replaced by the tribunaux d'instance, tribunaux de police, and the tribunaux de grande instance (also tribunaux correctionnels). Les juridictions de proximité were introduced in 2002, but were scheduled to be eliminated starting January 1, 2013.
First-degree civil jurisdictions
The first-degree civil jurisdiction is so specific that it may be divided into several subjects areas (commercial, social, rural, etc.). These courts then have the deciding word in those subjects.
Other first-degree civil jurisdictions have a more general purview, but are divided by the taux de ressort, most often as the applicant requests.
This is the case in the following jurisdictions: Tribunal de grande instance Tribunal d'instance Juridiction de proximité Where litigation is not specifically assigned by legislation to another jurisdiction, the tribunal de grande instance is responsible for litigation on matters involving more than 10 €000. But for litigation arising from real estate, the tribunal d'instance has authority over litigation evaluated where potential damages range between 4 €000 and €10,000, and the juridiction de proximité for litigation evaluated at 4 000 € or less.
In the overseas French possessions (collectivités d'outre-mer), naming sometimes differs from this pattern and a court of first instance (tribunal de première instance) exercises a general review power over first-degree civil jurisdiction.
The Agricultural land tribunals are responsible for some types of rural litigation.