Case Law

This chapter investigates the rules concerning precedents and how they work in practice, especially in their relationship to legislation. In French constitutional theory, precedents do not form part of the ‘pyramid of norms’ and do not, therefore, constitute official sources of French law. This French approach to legal sources arises out of a set of rules which prevent judges from interfering with the legislature in its law-making function. In practice, however, French judges routinely make rules, as judges do in other legal systems. In this respect, some branches of French law which were not originally statute based, such as administrative and private international law, have been almost entirely created out of the decisions of the judges.