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The Influence Of The Conseil D'etat Outside France
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2008
Extract
Meeting British lawyers and participating in a comparative reflection on our legal systems has for me a history that goes back to 1966. In 1966 I participated, in London, in the first meeting of British and French administrative lawyers. Among the participants were Nicole Questiaux and Neville Brown; there was also the late President Letourneur, who was a forerunner in the development of the relations of French Administrative lawyers with British lawyers, at a time where these relations were very far from being as extensive as they are today. If I look back to this long period, I think that important progress has been made towards a better mutual understanding of our legal systems. My concern in this paper is with the dynamics and direction of the interactions which the Conseil d'État has had with other legal systems.
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References
1. See Brown, L. N. and Bell, J. S. with Galabert, J.-M., French Administrative Law (5th edn, 1998), pp.32–34.Google Scholar
2. See Zweigcrt, K. and Kötz, H., An Introduction to Comparative Law (3rd edn, 1998, trans. Weir, T.), p.40.Google Scholar
3. See also Bermann, G. A., in CERAP, Le Contrôle Juridictionnel de l'Administration (1991), pp.57Google Scholaret seq. who discusses the role of the administrative law judge as well as the Supreme Court.
4. See (he presentations made by English judges to the Conseil d'État in Etudes et Documents du Conseil d'État) no.38, pp.239–270 and no.44, pp.267–332 and the comparative discussion reported there.
5. See Graham, C. and Prosser, T., Privatizing Public Enterprises (1991).Google Scholar
6. See Brown and Bell, op. cit., supra n.l, pp.50–55.
7. See CE Ass., 10 Apr. 1992, Epoux V, Actualité juridique—droit administratif (AJDA) 1992, 355 concl. Legal; CE Ass., 26 May 1995, Consorts Nyguen, AJDA 1995, 508.
8. However one should not forget that for many decades the activity of the so–called services publics indusiriels et-commerciaux or the public enterprises and their relations with their employees have been ruled by private law and come under the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts: see Brown and Bell, op. cit., supra n.l, pp.133–134.
9. See “Le Conseil d'État avant le Conseil d'État” (1999), La Revue administrative, at pp.82et seq.Google Scholar
10. On the role of the grands corps (of which the Conseil d'État is one), see Wright, V., The Government and Politics of France (3rd edn, 1989), pp.112–114.Google Scholar
11. For the following development, I am indebted to Massot, J. and Girardot, T., Le Conseil d'État, collection “Les Etudes de documentation Française” (1999), pp.47–57Google Scholar. The various special issues of La Revue Administrative published for the bicentenary of the Conseil d'État show this influence in Africa and Latin America, as well as in Europe. I will only select a few salient features here.
12. Special issues of La Revue Administrative published in 1999 cover this influence in Africa and Latin America and Lebanon specifically.
13. See the special issue of La Revue Administrative comparing the French and German systems. On the liability of the administration, see Rüfner, W., in Bell, J. and Bradley, A. W., Governmental Liability: A Comparative Study (1991), chap.11.Google Scholar
14. Certain malicious commentators have said that for the administrative judge this law had been a useful inducement to be more generous in the evaluation of the damages in order to avoid other transfers of competence to the ordinary courts!
15. Sec Champcil-Desplats, V., “Services d'intérėt économique général, valeurs communes, cohésion social et territoriale,” 1999 AJDA, 959.Google Scholar
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