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The Main Principles of French Public Law: A Comparative Reflection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Aurore Gaillet
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This article will be divided into two parts. First, I will demonstrate the importance of comparative law and legal culture by highlighting the “great principles of French public law”. I will then explore some of these major principles, based on the French and German conceptions of law, justice, the State, and democracy.

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Article
Information
International Journal of Legal Information , Volume 50 , Issue 1-2 , Summer 2022 , pp. 24 - 31
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by International Association of Law Libraries

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Footnotes

1

© Aurore Gaillet 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International Association of Law Libraries. This article contains remarks the author made at the Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries 39th Annual Course on International Law and Legal Information: The Triptych: National, European and International Law, The French Way, Toulouse, France, October 4 to October 7 2021. Thanks to my colleague, Michel Fraysse, for an invitation to participate in this conference which he has been organizing for some time now. I proposed two ideas when Mr. Fraysse suggested that I reflect on the “great principles of French public law”. The first concerns a basic approach. My own research has led me to extend my study to comparative law, particularly between France and Germany: comparative law and legal culture are very useful tools for highlighting any specificities of a law. The second concerns the formal presentation of this paper. I have therefore proposed a duo with Nicolas Seebold, a talented doctoral student, who is sheds more light in his own paper on the place of the “State” in French public law.

References

2 Fr. Audren, J.-L. Halpérin, La culture juridique française. Entre mythes et réalités, xixe–xxe siècles, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2013, p. 7—referring for example to: D. Nelken (ed.), Comparing Legal Cultures, London and New-York, Routledge, 1997; Coombe, R., “Is there a Cultural Studies of Law?” in Miller, T. (ed.), A Companion to Cultural Studies, Oxford, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 36–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 In France, the works attempting to identify a “French law” are as old as they are debated. See here the research of legal historians, underlining the importance of both the law and the discourse of jurists, from the Ancien Régime: B. Basdevant-Gaudemet and J. Gaudemet, Introduction historique au droit, xiiie -xxe siècles, Paris, L.G.D.J., 4e ed., 2016; J. Krynen, “Roman law ‘the general law of France'”, S. Soleil, “French legal model: investigations on the origin of a discourse”, Droits, n° 38, 2003, resp. pp. 21–36 and p. 83–95. For a private law perspective: D. Deroussin, “How to forge a national identity. The French legal culture seen by the civilist doctrine at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries”, Clio@Thémis, n° 5, 2012.

4 The overview proposed by Ralf Michaels is interesting here: R. Michaels, “Rechtskultur”, in J. Basedow, K. J. Hopt, R. Zimmermann (eds.), Handwörterbuch des Europäischen Privatrechts, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2009, pp. 1255–1259. In French, it should be noted that the reference dictionary for “legal culture” (D. Alland, S. Rials (dir.), Dictionnaire de la culture juridique, Paris, P.U.F. 2003), does not include an eponymous entry. The collective work brings together researchers from different disciplines in order to get as close as possible to the “Western legal tradition, and more particularly the French and European legal tradition”.

5 R. David, Le droit français, Paris, LGDJ, 1960; the same, Les grands systèmes de droit contemporains, Paris, Dalloz, 1964 [C. Jauffret-Spinosi, M. Goré, 12e ed., 2016]. M. Fromont, Grands systèmes de droit étrangers, Paris, Dalloz, 8e ed., 2018.

6 A. Gambaro, R. Sacco, L. Vogel, Le droit de l'Occident et d'ailleurs, Paris, L. G. D. J., 2011. See also the idea of a “post-modern” legal culture, as proposed by Werner Gephart: W. Gephart, “Universalismus oder Partikularismus des modernen Rechts. Auf dem Wege zur postmodernen Rechtskultur?”, ZfRSoz, n° 10, 1989, p. 116–121. See also the volumes of the Law and Culture series that he directs (Frankfurt/M., Klostermann).

7 J.-L. Halpérin, “Is it time to deconstruct the myths of French legal history”, Clio@Thémis, n° 5, 2012, op. cit. F. Audren, J.-L. Halpérin, La culture juridique française. Entre mythes et réalités, xixe et xxe siècles, op. cit. in part, p. 280.

8 Stolleis, M., “After the Flood. The reconstruction of the State of law and democracy in West Germany after the Second World War”, Revue historique de droit français et étranger, 2003–3, vol. 81, pp. 353–366, 355–356Google Scholar.

9 H. P. Glenn, “The National legal tradition”, RIDC, 2003, pp. 263–278; the same, “Legal cultures and Legal Traditions”, in M. v. Hoeke (ed.), Epistemology and Methodology of Comparative Law, Oxford/Portland, Hart, 2004, pp. 7–20; H. P. Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World, Oxford, O.U.P., 2004.

10 See in part. Legrand, P., (ed.), Comparer les droits, résolument, Paris, P.U.F., 2009CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also the references, especially from Anglo-American authors, cited by M.-C. Ponthoreau, Droit(s), constitionnel(s) comparé(s), Paris, Economica, 2010.

11 C. Grewe, H. Ruiz Fabri, European Constitutional Rights, op. cit., 1995. For a historical perspective on this now indispensable European dimension: A. Wijffels: “Does European law have a history? Does it need one?”, in Leçons inaugurales du Collège de France, 2017.

12 M.-C. Ponthoreau, Droit(s), constitionnel(s) comparé(s), op. cit. p. 118 et seq.; R. Wahl, “Verfassungsvergleichung als Kulturvergleichung”, in the same, Verfassungsstaat, Europäisierung, Internationalisierung, Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp, 2003, p. 96 ff.

13 The work of Peter Häberle is of particular interest here: he starts with a definition of constitutional law as a “cultural science” (P. Häberle, Verfassungslehre als Kulturwissenschaft, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 2nd ed., 1998 (1st ed., 1982)—in French: P. Häberle, L'Etat constitutionnel (revised and edited by C. Grewe), Paris/Aix-en-Provence, Economica/PUAM, 2004). He then focuses on the identification of a European legal culture (P. Häberle, Europäische Rechtskultur. Versuch einer Annäherung in zwölf Schritten, Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp, 1997 (1st ed., 1994)).

14 A. Esmein, Éléments de droit constitutionnel français et comparé, 2nd ed. 1899, Preface, p. IX.

15 Ibid.

16 Beaud, O., Heyen, E. V., Eine deutsch-französische Rechtswissenschaft? - A Franco-German Legal Science? Kritische Bilanz und Perspektiven eines kulturellen Dialogs - Critical assessment and perspectives of a cultural dialogue, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 1999Google Scholar.

17 M. Jestaedt, “Verfassungsgericht ist nicht gleich Verfassungsgericht”, JZ, 2019, pp. 473–482, at 477 ('unterschiedlichen juridischen Weltanschauungen in Frankreich und Deutschland').

18 C. Gewe, C. Gusy (eds.), Französisches Staatsdenken, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2002.

19 O. Jouanjan, “Conseil constitutionnel und Bundesverfassungsgericht: zwei verschiedene Modelle der europäischen Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit”, op. cit. (“zwei verschiedene Rechtskulturen”).

20 M. Jestaedt, “Verfassungsgericht ist nicht gleich Verfassungsgericht”, op. cit. at 477.

21 Chr. Fischer, “Bundesgerichtshof als Reichsgericht? Zum Aufbau des oberen Bundesgerichtes der ordentlichen Gerichtsbarkeit und zu seiner frühen Zivilrechtsprechung”, in Chr. Fischer, W. Pauly (ed.), Höchstrichterliche Rechtsprechung in der frühen Bundesrepublik, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2015, pp. 43–64, p. 64 (“liegt der Grund in der Qualität der Basisideologie unseres Verfassungsstaates”).

22 M. Stolleis, “Rechtsstaat” in A. Erler, E. Kaufmann (eds.), Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (HRG), vol. 4, Berlin, Schmidt, 1st ed. (1964–1998), pp. 367–375—new ed. to be published in A. Cordes et al. (eds.), Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, t. 4, Munich, Beck, 2e ed. In French: O. Jouanjan (ed.), Figures de l'État de droit. Le Rechtsstaat dans l'histoire intellectuelle et constitutionnelle de l'Allemagne, Strasbourg, PUS, 2001; E. W. Böckenförde, “Naissance et développement de la notion d'État de droit”, in Le Droit, l'État et la constitution démocratique, op. cit. pp. 127 et seq.

23 “The legislative branch is bound by the constitutional order, the executive and judicial branches are bound by the statute and the law”.

24 A. Gaillet, “The judge in the German consttutionalism of the powerful State”, in S. Mouton (ed.), QSQ 8 - Le juge dans le constitutionnalisme moderne, Paris, Varenne, 2021.

25 Jellinek, G., System der subjektiven öffentlichen Rechte, 2nd edn, Tübingen, Mohr, 1905 (1st edn, 1892)Google Scholar. See here the work of Olivier Jouanjan, in part. The foundations of the notion of public subjective rights

by Georg Jellinek”, RUDH, 2004, p. 6–16; Une histoire de la pensée juridique en Allemagne (1800–1918), op. cit, 2005, t. 1, p. 5–85; “Subjective public rights and the dialectic of recognition : Georg Jellinek and the legal construction of the Modern state”, Revue d'Allemagne, 46/1, 2014, p. 51–62; “Subjective public rights and citizenship in the work of Georg Jellinek”, in O. Beaud, C. Colliot-Thélène, J.-F. Kervégan, Droits subjectifs et citoyenneté, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2019, pp. 49–74.

26 O. Bühler, Die subjektiven öffentlichen Rechte und ihr Schutz in der deutschen Verwaltungsrechtsprechung, Berlin, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Kohlhammer, 1914. In 1950, he could say: “Grundsätzlich sehe ich als Erfordernisse eines subjektiven öffentlichen Rechts immer noch dieselben an wie in meinem Buch von 1914” VVDStRL 8 (1950), 159.

27 On the origin of a theory of fundamental rights in the 19th centurye: D. Grimm, “Die Entwicklung der Grundrechtstheorie in der deutschen Staatslehre des 19. Jahrhunderts”, in G. Birtsch (ed.), Grund- und Freiheitsrechte von der ständischen zur spätbürgerlichen Gesellschaft, Göttingen, V&R, 1987, pp. 234–266; O. Jouanjan, “An origin of ‘fundamental rights’ in Germany. The moment 1848”, RDP, 2012, n° 3, p. 766–784; A. Gaillet, L'individu contre l'État, op. cit. pp. 187 et seq.

28 K. Hesse, “Stufen der Entwicklung der deutschen Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit”, JöR, 1998, pp. 1–23, at pp. 1–2.

29 É. François, “Das Bundesverfassungsgericht und die deutsche Rechtskultur: ein Blick aus Frankreich”, in M. Stolleis (ed.), Herzkammern der Republik, op. cit; In French: the same, “the Federal Constitutional Court and German legal culture”, Le Débat, n° 168, 2012, p. 81–90. On the Court, in particular its early years, I refer to my book work: A. Gaillet, The German Federal Constitutional Court. Rebuilding a democracy by the law (1945–1961), Paris, La Mémoire du Droit, 2021.

30 See Oliver Lepsius's words: “Deutsches Staatsrecht hingegen denkt bis in die Gegenwart nicht herrschaftsbegründend, sondern herrschaftsbegrenzend” (O. Lepsius, sehepunkte 4, 2004, no. 5 review ( http://www.sehepunkte.de/2004/05/5714.html ) of Fr. Günther, Denken vom Staat her. Die bundesdeutsche Staatsrechtslehre zwischen Dezision und Integration 1949–1970, München, De Gruyter Oldenburg, 2004.

31 M. Debré, Documents pour servir à l'histoire de l'élaboration de la Constitution du 4 octobre 1958, op. cit. vol. 3, p. 260.

32 C.J. Friedrich, Constitutional Democracy, 1949, p. 138.

33 Cf. supra note n.

34 See the rich works of Jacques Krynen: L'État de justice, t. 1 (XIIIe –XXe siècle), L'idéologie de la magistrature ancienne; t. 2 (XIIIe –XXe siècle), L'emprise contemporaine des juges, Paris, Gallimard, resp. 2009 and 2012; Le Théâtre juridique: une histoire de la construction du droit, Paris, Gallimard, 2018.

35 S. Rials, La Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen, Paris, Hachette, 1988; M. Gauchet, La révolution des droits de l'homme, Paris, Gallimard, 1989; P. Wachsmann, “Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen”, in D. Alland, S. Rials (dir.), Dictionnaire de la culture juridique, op. cit.

36 L. Jaume, La liberté et la loi. Les origines philosophiques du libéralisme, Paris, Fayard, 2000. V. J.-J. Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762), Book 2, Chap. 6.

37 R. Carré de Malberg, Contribution à la théorie générale de L'État, spécialement d'après les données fournies par le droit constitutionnel français, Paris, Sirey, vol. 1, 1920, vol. 2, 1922 (republished Paris, Dalloz, 2003); “La loi, expression de la volonté générale. Étude sur le concept de loi dans la constitution de 1875, Paris, Sirey, 1931 (reed. Paris, Economica, 1984).

38 On “public” liberties and their evolution: P. Wachsmann, Libertés publiques, Paris, Dalloz, 8e ed., 2017. For a comparative analysis: A. Gaillet (I) and T. Hochmann (II), “fundamental rights, the French frog and the German ox (I et II), in Soixante ans d'influences juridiques réciproques franco-allemandes. Jubilee of the 60th anniversary of the Franco-German Legal Centre, Paris, Société de législation comparée, 2016.

39 For insights offered in a comparative perspective: Ch. Eisenmann, L. Hamon, “The constitutional court in French law (1875–1961)”, in Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in der Gegenwart. Länderberichte und Rechtsvergleichung, Internationales Kolloquium (Heidelberg, 1961), Carl Heymanns Verlag, Köln, Berlin, 1962, 231–291; Fr. Luchaire, “Procedures and techniques for protecting fundamental rights. The French Constitutional Court “, Revue internationale de droit comparé, t. 33 n°2, 1981. p. 285–334; C. Grewe, “The control of the constitutionality of law in Germany: a few comparisons with the French system”, Pouvoirs, vol. 137, no. 2, 2011, pp. 143–154.

40 Massot, J. (ed.), Le Conseil d'Etat de l'an VIII à nos jours. Livre jubilaire du deuxième centenaire, Paris, Adam Biro, 1990Google Scholar. On its history, from a comparative perspective: A. Gaillet, “The French Conseil d'Etat : the story of a difficult export into Europe”, RFDA 2013, n° 4, p. 793–804; “Der Conseil d'État français : histoire d'une exportation difficile en Europe”, RFDA 2013, n° 4, p. 793–804, 793–804; “Der Conseil d'État und sein Einfluss auf die Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Europa - Historische Betrachtung und Ausblick” (§ 142), in A. v. Bogdandy, J. Pauzaite-Kulvinskiene, P. M. Huber (eds.), Ius Publicum Europaeum, Heidelber, C. F. Müller, t. IX, 2021.

41 J. Carbonnier, “Le Code civil”, in P. Nora (ed.), Les lieux de mémoire, Paris, Gallimard, 1986, t. 2, pp. 293–315; the same, “The Napoleonic code as a sociological phenomenon”, Revue de la Recherche juridique, 1981/3, pp. 327–336. And for a counterpart in public law: J. -J. Bienvenu et al, La Constitution administrative de la France, Paris, Dalloz, 2012.

42 Fr. Audren, J.-L. Halpérin, La culture juridique française. Entre mythes et réalités, xixe–xxe siècles, op. cit., p. 15.

43 Cf. supra n. 19.

44 S. von Pufendorf, De statu imperii germanici, Geneva, Petrus Columnesius, 1667, published under the pseudonym Severinus de Monzambano; trans. in Über die Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, Breslau, 1922, chap. 6, § 9, p. 94 (“einen unregelmäßigen und einem Monstrum ähnlichen Staatskörper”).

45 A. Gaillet, “Sovereignty in Germany - the historical perspectives of a difficult journey”, in Fr. V. Guiot (ed.), La souveraineté européenne. Du discours politique à une réalité juridique? Paris, Mare & Martin (coll. Horizons européens), 2021.

46 H. Plessner, Die verspätete Nation. Über die politische Verfügbarkeit bürgerlichen Geistes, 5e ed.

47 The term was first introduced into the German debate by the journalist and political scientist Dolf Sternberger, on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Basic Law and against the background of the division of the German territory and people (“Verfassungspatriotismus”, FAZ, 23 May 1979; le même, “Verfassungspatriotismus” (1982), in le même, Schriften, t. X, 1990, Frankfurt/M., Insel, pp. 3–16). The expression was later popularized by the German philosopher and intellectual Jürgen Habermas (“Über den doppelten Boden des demokratischen Rechtsstaates”, “Geschichtsbewusstsein und posttraditionale Identität. Die Westbindung der Bundesrepublik”, in du même, Eine Art Schadensabwicklung, Berlin, Suhrkamp, 1987, resp. p. 19 et seq.)

48 J. Collings, "Verfassungspatriotismus und Verfassungsgedächtnis: Das Grundgesetz als deutscher Erinnerungsort", JZ, 2019, pp. 1109–1115.

49 Stolleis, M., “After the Flood. The reconstruction of the State of law and democracy in West Germany after the Second World War”, Revue historique de droit français et étranger, 2003–3, vol. 81, pp. 353–366, 362Google Scholar.

50 J. Hummel, Le constitutionnalisme allemand (1815–1918) : le modèle allemand de la monarchie limitée, Paris, P.U.F. Leviathan, 2002; A. Gaillet, L'individu contre l'État. Étude sur l'évolution des recours de droit public dans l'Allemagne du xixe siècle, Paris, Dalloz, 2012. In German: E.-W. Böckenförde, “Verfassungstyp der deutschen konstitutionellen Monarchie im 19. Jahrhundert”, in du même, Moderne deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte (1815–1914), Königstein, Ts., Hain, 2e ed., 1981, pp. 146–170. For a comparative and differentiated approach to German, French and American constitutionalism: C. Möllers, “Pouvoir constituant - constitution - constitutionalisation”, in A. v. Bogdandy, J. Bast (eds.), Principles of European Constitutional Law, Oxford/Munich, Hart Publishing/Beck, 2009, p. 169–204.

51 C. Schönberger, Das Parlament im Anstaltsstaat. Zur Theorie parlamentarischer Repräsentation in der Staatsrechtslehre des Kaiserreichs (1871-1918), Frankfurt/M. Klostermann, 1997; H. Preuß, “Vom Obrigkeitsstaat zum Volksstaat” (1921), in D. Lehnert (ed.), Gesammelte Schriften, t. 4, Politik und Verfassung in der Weimarer Republik, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2008, pp. 157–171.

52 K. Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denkens in der Weimarer Republik - Die politischen Ideen des deutschen Nationalismus zwischen 1918 und 1933, Munich, DTV, 3e ed., 1992 [1re ed., 1978]; C. Gusy (ed.) Demokratisches Denken in der Weimarer Republik, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2000. Let us not forget, however, the importance of the democratic thinking of Kelsen or Heller—to name but a few.

53 Stolleis, M., “After the Flood. The reconstruction of the State of law and democracy in West Germany after the Second World War”, Revue historique de droit français et étranger, 2003–3, vol. 81, pp. 353–366Google Scholar, 361.

54 A. Gaillet, The German Federal Constutional Court. Reconstructing a democracy through law (1945–1961), op. cit. in part. § 269 et seq. (“a legal conception of democracy”), presenting in particular the important work of E.-W. Böckenförde (“Demokratie als Verfassungsprinzip” (1987)) and later by O. Lepsius on this subject. For a comparative perspective, see also: C. D. Classen, “The constitutional concept of democracy in Germany and in France. Remarks on the concretization of an open notion in the European legal space”, JP, n° 9, 2018.

55 C. Möllers, Der vermisste Leviathan. Staatstheorie in der Bundesrepublik, Frankfurt/M., Suhrkamp, 2008.

56 A. de Tocqueville, L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution, Paris, Lévy, 1856; F. Furet, Penser la révolution, Paris, Gallimard, 1978 (new ed., 1983); F. Furet, D. Richet, La Révolution française, Paris, Hachette, 2e ed., 1999.

57 O. Jouanjan, “Synthese”, in C. Grewe, Chr. Gusy (eds.), Französisches Staatsdenken, op. cit. pp. 242–252, in part p. 252. See here the analyses of Grégoire Bigot: Introduction historique au droit administratif français depuis 1789, Paris, P.U.F. 2002; L'administration française. Politique, droit et société, t. 1, 1789–1870, Paris, LexisNexis, 2 eed., 2014; t. 2 (with T. Le Yoncourt), L'administration française. Politique, droit et société, 1870–1944, Paris, LexisNexis, 2014; Ce droit qu'on dit administratif…. Études d'histoire du droit public, Paris, La Mémoire du Droit, 2nd ed. 2020.

58 On the relationship with the Republic: G. Burdeau, Droit constitutionnel et institutions politiques, 17e ed., 1976, p. 445 et seq.; C. Schönberger, “Die Idee der Republik in Frankreich - Anmerkungen aus vergleichender Sicht”, in C. Grewe, Chr. Gusy (eds.), Französisches Staatsdenken, op. cit, (76–84).

59 Jaume, L., Le discours jacobin et la démocratie, Paris, Fayard, 1989Google Scholar.

60 See here the important dossier devoted to him in No. 10 of the journal Jus Politicum (2014): http://juspoliticum.com/numero/la-volonte-generale-51.html.

61 Herrera, C. M., “The meanings of the concept of constitutionalism”, in Pouderon, B., Casas, J. (eds.), Variations, evolutions, metamorphoses, Saint-Étienne, P. U. Saint-Étienne, 2012, pp. 359–370Google Scholar.