This course explains the law of France, not US law. Rules that look the same elsewhere may be different.
Course · Law by country · France
French Law
The law of France in one course: the foundations and the Constitution of 1958, constitutional government, the two orders of courts and the legal professions, rights and administrative law, private law, business and employment law, and criminal law and procedure.
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France is the home of the Civil Code and the best-known example of the civil law tradition: a legal system built on codes written by the legislator, interpreted by judges who are not bound by precedent in the common law sense, and explained by academic writers whose work has real influence. It also has a distinctive public law, with two separate orders of courts, a Constitutional Council that reviews statutes, and a Council of State that created most of administrative law. This course gives a complete first map. It starts with the history and the sources of French law and the hierarchy of norms; then the Constitution of 1958 and its institutions; then the courts and the legal professions; then rights, secularism and administrative law; then the Civil Code on persons, contract, tort, property, family and succession; then business, consumer, competition and employment law; and finally criminal law and procedure. It uses landmark decisions that have lasted, invented people and businesses, and three working tools.
The Curriculum
Foundations of the French legal system: history, sources, the Constitution of 1958, the codes, the hierarchy of norms and the rule of law→
History, sources, the Constitution of 1958, the codes, the hierarchy of norms and legality. Practice: Which Source, Which Norm Prevails and Spot the Mistake.
Constitutional government: Parliament, lawmaking, the President, the Government, the Constitutional Council, the QPC and local government→
Parliament, the legislative process, the President, the Government, separation of powers, the Constitutional Council, the QPC and decentralisation. Practice: Who Decides, Which Review and Spot the Mistake.
Courts and the legal professions: the two orders of courts, civil and criminal justice, administrative courts, the Court of Cassation, judges, lawyers and notaries→
Two orders of courts, civil and criminal courts, administrative courts, the Court of Cassation, judges and prosecutors, lawyers and notaries. Practice: Which Court, Which Professional and Spot the Mistake.
Rights, secularism and administrative law: fundamental rights, laïcité, administrative acts, the recours pour excès de pouvoir, state liability, public contracts and tax→
Fundamental rights, laïcité, administrative acts, judicial review, state liability, public contracts and tax. Practice: Which Ground, Which Remedy and Spot the Mistake.
Private law: persons, contract, breach, tort, property, family, succession, civil procedure and dispute resolution→
Persons and capacity, contract and breach, tort, property, family, succession, civil procedure and mediation. Practice: Which Rule, Which Remedy and Spot the Mistake.
Business, consumer, competition and employment law: merchants, companies, insolvency, consumers, competition, intellectual property and the Labour Code→
Commercial law, companies, insolvency, consumers, competition, intellectual property and employment. Practice: Which Form, Which Procedure and Spot the Mistake.
Criminal law, procedure and sentencing: offences, responsibility, defences, investigation, trial, evidence, penalties, appeals and judicial cooperation→
Offences and responsibility, defences, investigation, trial and evidence, penalties, appeals and cooperation. Practice: Which Offence, Which Stage and Spot the Mistake.
Capstone: Capstone: Léa Martin and the ceramics workshop→
A ceramics workshop in Lyon, a withdrawn permit, a supplier dispute, a dismissal, a hidden defect in a kiln, a will and a police custody. Choose the order of courts, the defect of consent, the reserved share and the rights in custody.
What It Covers
“You will be able to say, for any French legal problem, which source and which court apply, which rule governs it, which time limit runs and what the likely remedy is.”
- Follows the problem: a four-question order of thought (which order of courts, which rule in the hierarchy of norms, which ground or time limit, and what remedy) that works on every problem in the course and the capstone.
- Teaches the structure behind the rules, so that a student who knows how the codes, the two orders of courts and the hierarchy of norms fit together can read any new statute or decision, and compare a civil law system with the common law.
- Three tools with invented facts: a Court Finder, a Consent Defects checker and a Reserved Share Calculator, each showing how the answer changes when a fact does.
- Honest about limits: it teaches durable provisions and landmark decisions, gives French terms with their English meaning, and does not state changing figures or recent decisions. It is general education, not advice, and it links to the site’s France portal and to the Civil Law gateway.
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Or give this as a giftOther Scrolls in This Chamber
Across the Table$15 →Interests, walk-away numbers, offers, trades, pressure tactics and professional limits, with practice rooms and calculators.
Cooling the Room$15 →How conflict escalates, mapping a dispute, de-escalation, hard conversations, choosing a process, mediation, power, culture and ethics, with practice mediations.
The Client Conversation$15 →Trust, the first meeting, fees and scope, updates in plain words, advice and decisions, bad news, boundaries and ethics, with practice meetings.Module 1 is free to try. Sign in, pass each module quiz and the course average, and your Certificate of Completion is emailed to you automatically. This course teaches method and technique with invented people and figures; it is general education, not legal advice, and professional rules differ from country to country.
Common questions
- Do I need to know French?
- No. The course is in English. It gives the standard French terms next to the English, because French legal vocabulary is widely used in comparative law.
- Does it cover the law of other French-speaking countries?
- No. It covers the law of France. Belgium, Quebec, Switzerland and others have their own systems, though many share the French codes’ heritage.
- Does it give the current law on every point?
- It teaches the provisions and landmark decisions that have lasted. Detailed rules, amounts, thresholds and recent reforms change, so check current law for any real matter.
- Are the tools real data?
- No. The tools apply well-known rules in simplified form to invented facts. They show the structure of the answer and cannot decide a case.
- Is it useful for practice or for exams?
- Yes. It covers the core subjects of French legal study at a first-map level and is useful for anyone who needs to understand how French law and its courts work, including common-law lawyers who deal with France.
- How do I get the Certificate of Completion?
- Sign in, pass each module quiz and keep a course average of at least 75. The certificate is then issued and emailed to you automatically.
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