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Composition
and structure
Number of
members :
In addition to the Vice-President and the presidents of the six
sections, the Council of State counts 314 members of which 187 are
in activity in the Council itself..
Of the mebers in activity, 96 are councillors of State (plus 12
councillors of State in extraordinary service), 69 " maîtres des
requêtes " (masters of requests) and 22 " auditeurs " (auditors).
Recruitment
procedures and incompatibilities :
The auditors are recruted amongst the students of the " Ecole nationale
d'administration " (National administration school) at the end of
their schooltime. The functions of auditor at the Council of State
are chosen by the students who have got the best results. They are
promoted by seniority to the rank of master of requests. In addition,
one master of requests upon four is freely appointed, by the so-called
external way (tour extérieur), by the government (the candidate
has to fulfill two criteria : being 30 years old at least and having
worked in the civil service for more than 10 years). The masters
of requests are promoted councillors of State by seniority. In addition
to this recruitment procedure, one concillor of State upon three
is appointed by the government by the external way : the only condition
is the minimal age of 45. Thereby, specialists of a very high level
in various fields (former ministers, doctors, members of the army,
engineers, barristers, …) may enter the Council of State.
The rules concerning the incompatibilities are the same as for the
other civil servants..
Internal
organization :
The Prime Minister is the official President of the Council of State.
This title is only honorary. In fact, the Council of State is presided
by the Vice-President.
The Council of State is subdivided into six sections of which each
is presided by a president of section : section of interior, of
finances, of public works, social section, section of reports and
studies and the section of litigations.The first four ones are competent
for certain fields of ministerial competence defined following the
composition of the government. The section of reports and studies
prepares the annual report and, on the demand of the government
or on its own initiative, some general studies. The section of litigations
exercises the current jurisdictional functions of the Council of
State ; it is divided into ten subsections. The members of the Council
of State participate in the same time in the workings of an administrative
section and in the actvities of the section of litigations.
The drafts of the most important texts are, first, analysed by the
competent administrative section before being transmitted to the
general assembly (which is composed by the vice-President, the six
presidents of section, and thirty-five councillors of State, if
it is an ordinary general assembly, or by all the councillors of
State, if it is plenary).
In the jurisidctional matters, the affairs dealing with particularly
important questions of principle are tried by the Assembly of litigations,
chaired by the Vice-President, which includes also the six presidents
of section.
Publications
:
The Council of State publishes every year a report including a general
summary of its activities and various studies.
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Court
functions
Jurisdiction
:
The french administrative courts are, in principle, competent to
try all disputes in which the administration is involved. They are
competent to deal with actions directed against administrative acts
and with all demands of compensation for damages caused by the administration's
activities. They also intervene in the jurisdictional control of
elections.
Organization
of the courts system :
The administrative jurisidctional system is made up of administrative
tribunals, administrative courts of appeal and the Council of State.
The decrees, the regulations taken by the ministers, the decisions
of collegial bodies with national competence, the legal disputes
concerning the individual situation of the higher civil servants
and the litigations on the european and regional elections are refered,
in first and last instance, to the Council of State.
The administrative tribunals are competent to deal in first instance
with all the other affairs falling in their territorial jurisidction.
Their decisions may be challenged, in principle, before the administrative
courts of appeal, or, in some exceptional matters, before the Council
of State.
The Council of State is also competent to review the judgments of
the courts of appeal and of specialised administrative courts.
Powers of
the judge (annulment, reversal, compensation, etc.) :
When seized by an action for ultra vires (recours pour excès de
pouvoir), the Council of State has the power to declare an act void.
In matters of " full jurisdiction " (contentieux de pleine juridiction)
(especially the disputes concerning administrative contracts, elections
and the responsability of the administration), the Council of State
may reform the acts and award damages.
The statute n°2000-597 from June the 30th 2000 concerning proceedings
of emergency before administrative jurisdictions, coming into effect
on January the 1st 2001, appoints before ordinay administrative
jurisdictions (Concil of State, administrative courts of appeal,
administarative tribunals) three sumary and extraordinary procceedings.
The judge ruling in emergency gives his order without or after an
open court, depending each case.
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Advisory
functions
Existence
and extent of an advisory authority :
The Council of State has to be consulted for every governmental
bill, for every ordinance and for the most important decrees called
" decrees in Council of State ". Its opinion may be asked by the
government on any problem in administrative matters. Furthermore,
the Council works out, on the demand of the government or on its
own initiative, general studies including some proposals of legislative
reforms.
Authority
and publicity of the advices :
Although the Government is not legally obliged by the advices of
the Council of State, in practice it takes them into account in
most cases.
The advices given by the Council of State are, in general, secret,
but the Government very often allows their publication, especially
in the annual report. The studies are published in separate volumes.
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