The Portal To —
Law of FranceFrance
The home of the Civil Code: a Republic with its own Constitution, two separate orders of courts, a Constitutional Council and a legal tradition that shaped much of the world. Free articles, organized by subject, growing every week.
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Who This Page Is For
This portal collects material specific to French law, the civil-law tradition in its best-known form. French law has its own vocabulary, its own two orders of courts (judicial and administrative) and its own route into the legal professions, and it also applies European Union law. Everywhere else on this site, content reflects US law unless a page says otherwise.
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French Law
A first course in French law: the codes and the hierarchy of norms, the Constitution of 1958 and the Constitutional Council, the judicial and administrative courts, rights and laïcité, the Civil Code, business and employment law, and criminal law and procedure.
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The Civil Law Tradition
Where the French codes come from and what they share with the legal systems of continental Europe, Latin America and beyond: the Roman roots, the great codes and legal science.
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