Court of Cassation (France)

The Court of Cassation is the highest court in France for civil and criminal cases. It is one of the country's four main superior courts, along with the Council of State, the Constitutional Council, and the Jurisdictional Disputes Tribunal. The Court mainly listens to appeals from courts of assizes and courts of appeal. It checks how laws are used, making sure they are the same all over France.

The Court has several parts, such as civil, commercial, labor, and criminal groups, and a special group for starting cases. It usually uses three or five judges for decisions, but big cases use all the judges together.

The Court of Cassation was created in 1790 during the French Revolution. It was meant to check mistakes made by lower courts in France. Today, it works in the Palace of Justice in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Many other countries have courts like this one.

Composition

The Court of Cassation in France has judges, a public prosecutor's office, and an Administrative Office of Courts. There are nearly 85 judges and about 40 deputy judges. They work in six groups, called divisions, each handling different kinds of cases.

These divisions include civil law, commercial law, labor disputes, and criminal cases. Each division has a presiding justice, and the Chief Justice oversees them all. There is also a special Divisional Court for cases that need more than one division, and a full court for the most important decisions.

Proceedings

The Court of Cassation checks if lower courts followed the law correctly when making decisions. It is the highest court in France and has many important jobs.

The Court hears appeals, called pourvois en cassation, from lower courts. These appeals only check if the law was used right, not new facts. If the Court finds a mistake, it can cancel the lower court's decision and send the case back.

For serious crimes tried by a jury in a Court of Assizes, appeals can be made to another Court of Assizes with a larger jury. The Court of Cassation still checks for mistakes in how the law was used.

The Court also helps when the government disagrees with how a lower court understood the law. It can suggest changes to laws in its yearly report and works in special courts for important cases.

Other related courts

France has more than just the Court of Cassation to handle important cases.

For problems with the government or its rules, people go to special administrative courts. The top court for these cases is called the Conseil d'État.

If there is a disagreement about which type of court should handle a case, the Jurisdictional Disputes Court (Tribunal des Conflits) makes the decision. This court has members from the top judicial and administrative courts.

Another important court is the Constitutional Council. It checks laws to make sure they follow France’s rules about what is right and fair. Sometimes, people can ask this council to check a law before it is used in a court case.

There is also the European Court of Human Rights. This court looks at cases where someone feels their rights were broken by the government. Before going to this court, all other options in France must be tried first.