In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
, the ''Tribunal d'instance'' (literally "Court of First Instance") is a judicial lower court of record of first instance for general civil suits and includes a criminal division, the Police Court (''tribunal de police''), which hears cases of misdemeanors or summary offences (''contraventions''). Since it has
original jurisdiction
In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision.
India
In India, the Su ...
, the Court's rulings may be appealed to a French
appellate court
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
or
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. The court was formerly known as a Justice of the Peace Court (''justice de paix'') until the judicial restructuring of 1958.
In the Court, proceedings are conducted based on oral testimony and arguments, and, unlike in higher courts, legal counsel is not mandatory.
Other judicial courts of original jurisdiction are:
*Magistrate courts (''juge de proximité'') - for small claims and petty misdemeanors (since 1 July 2017 these claims now fall under the jurisdiction of the tribunal d'instance)
*High courts (''tribunal de grande instance'') - handles complex suits and has a criminal section, the Criminal Court (''tribunal correctionnel''), that hears cases involving minor felonies or indictable offences (''délits'')
*Commercial court (''
Tribunal de commerce'')
*Employment Tribunal (''
Conseil des prud'hommes
Conseil may refer to:
Government
* Conseil d'État (disambiguation), various governments or governmental organizations
* Conseil des Etats, the smaller chamber of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland
* Conseil de l'Entente, a West African regional ...
'')
*
Agricultural Land Tribunal (''tribunal paritaire des baux ruraux'')
*
Social security tribunal (''tribunal des affaires de sécurité sociale'')
Degrees of jurisdiction
As a general rule, the French court system is divided into three degrees of jurisdiction:
*
Original or general jurisdiction for the first hearing of cases;
* Appellate jurisdiction for appeals from lower courts;
* Courts of last resort for appeals from appellate courts on the interpretation of law.
Duties
The Court has civil jurisdiction over personal property claims, monetary claims not exceeding 10,000
euros
The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...
, and other civil actions for which the court has exclusive jurisdiction, those being:
[See: Serge Guinchard, André Varinard and Thierry Debard, "Institutions juriidctionnelles" (judicial institutions), Dalloz editor, 2011.]
* Private property leases
* Disputes relating to the elections of personnel delegates.
* the distance questions and height of the plantations.
* the movable credit to the consumption up to €21,500.
* Asset seizure
* Defamation suits
* Guardianship of
minors and disabled persons
* Voter registration
Claims over 10,000 euros, unless in the above exclusive areas of law, fall under the civil jurisdiction of superior courts.{{Citation needed, date=February 2007
See also
*
Justice in France
*
Court of Cassation (France)
The Court of Cassation (french: Cour de cassation ) is one of the four courts of last resort in France. It has jurisdiction over all civil and criminal matters triable in the judicial system; it is the supreme court of appeal in these cases. ...
*
Cour d'assises
*
Agricultural Land Tribunal (Tribunal paritaire des baux ruraux)
*
Juge d'instruction
In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases m ...
References
External links
Competences of the TI, proximity jurisdiction and TGI, national Assembly (February 24 2005)Guide practices procedure in front of the tribunal d'instancepartie 2partie 3
Judiciary of France
Courts by type
Tribunals