Legislation

How is French legislation cited? Here is a selection of citations to recent French legislation:

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)

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 Légifrance.

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How to find if legislation is available on the Internet

The best starting point to find legislation is Légifrance . Légifrance is the official portal offering public access to the legislation of France currently in force. "Les textes en vigueur" 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 du texte" - date signed or date published

· "recherche par des mots" - by title word or word in text

It is possible to find all the above citations using these methods. Users of Légifrance are reminded that the printed Journal Officiel de la République Française is the sole authoritative version of the legislation. The Journal Officiel has its own web site, but only offers full text of the most recent issue. So it is best to use Légifrance for efficient and comprehensive searching of French legislation.

Collections of the legislation in force are known as Codes . The codes are in effect a framework for the major branches of the law. Among the well-known codes are the Code Civil and the Code Pénal . The full consolidated and official versions of the codes are available in French on Légifrance. Also available on this site are English versions of the main codes, including civil and criminal. Useful glossaries explain and translate French legal terms into English.

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How to find if French legislation is available in printed sources at IALS

The clear and straightforward approach is to check the "table chronologique" for the relevant year in each of the 3 recueils généraux. This gives an index of legislation by date published, and refers you to the relevant pages in the receuil for the full text. You may have to search in the subsequent year's "table chronologique" also. Subject or keyword indexes are also available, known as "tables alphabétiques", but you need to check under different terms in French in order to search thoroughly. Laws are not listed alphabetically by title.

In short, you can search for French legislation as follows:

· Gazette du Palais

• Table chronologique de législation
• Table alphabétique de legislation

· Recueil Dalloz

• Table chronologique des lois, décrets, etc.
• Table alphabétique des textes législatifs et réglementaires

· Semaine Juridique

• Table alphabétique
• Table chronologique des textes

Collections of the legislation in force are known as Codes . The codes are in effect a framework for the major branches of the law. IALS Library regularly receives updated 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 Mégacode. Remember that the Codes Dalloz are shelved with books (e.g. GO13.D.1, etc.) and not at GO13.E

The codes can also be a good source of law which is not code. The appendix in each volume of code contains lots of related legislation.

Example: you want to find law on juvenile delinquency, or if you want to find a particular piece of legislation on juvenile delinquency.

You can check in the latest available edition of the Code Pénal (Dalloz), and use the Table Alphabétique and the Table Chronologique, as follows:

· Look up "enfance délinquante" in the table alphabétique and it refers you to various articles in the Code or to legislation in the Appendice

· Look up the table chronologique by the date of the legislation you require to see if it is included in the Appendice

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Finding case law

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

Citation	What it means
Cass. Crim., 28 juin 2000, BC no 251, p.741	A decision of the Cour de Cassation, Chambre Criminelle, of 28 June 2000, and reported in the Bulletin des Arrêts de la Cour de Cassation, 2000, report number 251, page 741
1997 TC 12 mai	A decision of the Tribunal des Conflits, of a case heard on 12 May 1997
1996 CE 31 juillet	A decision of the Conseil d'État of 31 July 1996
1995 CA Rennes, 11 mai	A decision of the Cour d'Appel de Rennes, of 11 May 1995
1995 CA Toulouse, 20 juin	A decision of the Cour d'Appel de Toulouse, of 20 June 1995
1994 Crim. 9 mai	A decision of the Cour de Cassation, Chambre Criminelle, of 9 May 1994
1994 Civ. (1) 12 juillet	A decision of the Cour de Cassation, Chambre Civile, of 12 July 1994
1993 CA Paris 15ème ch.B, 24 sept.	A decision of the Cour d'Appel de Paris, of 24 September 1993
1993 TGI Aix-en-Provence, 22 déc.	A decision of the Tribunal de Grand Instance of Aix-en-Provence, of 22 December 1993

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How to find out if decisions are reported

Using free sources on the internet

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

Using printed sources available at IALS Library

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.

Begin with the three recueils généraux as follows:

• Recueil Dalloz (formerly Recueil Dalloz Sirey )

• Table chronologique des décisions de jurisprudence (cases indexed by date of decision)
• Table des noms des parties (index of party names)
• Table alphabétique des décisions de jurisprudence (subject index)

• Semaine Juridique (= Juris Classeur Périodique)

• Table chronologique - indexes decisions of various courts by date
• Table des matières - subject index of decisions

• Gazette du Palais

• Table chronologique - by date, then by subject and paragraph number
• Mots clés - keyword index to cases
• Also indexes all 3 recueils, so it can refer you to reports in the Semaine Juridique or the Recueil Dalloz

Other printed sources at IALS to try:

• Recueil des Décisions du Conseil d'Etat for CE decisions
• Bulletin des Arrêts de la Cour de Cassation for decisions of the Cour de Cassation. IALS has this series from1986, both for the Chambre Civile and the Chambre Criminelle
• Droit Administatif (Juris-Classeur) for selected decisions in administrative law. IALS has this series from 1972

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