Editing MCP/Guidelines/FR (section)

== Court system ==

=== court_level mapping (T1 tag) ===

Apex per judicial order (judiciaire / administratif / financier). Pair with <code>court</code> for FR-specific precision.

* <code>supreme</code> — cour_cassation (judiciaire), conseil_etat (administratif), cour_des_comptes (financier)
* <code>appellate</code> — cour_appel, cour_administrative_appel, tribunal_superieur_appel, cour_appel_financiere
* <code>first_instance</code> — tribunal_judiciaire, conseil_prudhommes, tribunal_commerce, tribunal_administratif, chambre_regionale_des_comptes, cour_discipline_budgetaire_financiere
* <code>constitutional</code> — conseil_constitutionnel
* null — tribunal_conflits (sui generis), CNIL / CADA / AMF

=== Judicial order ===

* '''Cour de cassation''': supreme. Controls law, not facts. "Publié au bulletin" = jurisprudential value.
** "Assemblée plénière" > "Chambre mixte" > individual chamber (civ.1, civ.2, civ.3, com., soc., crim.)
* '''Cours d'appel''': rejudge facts + law.
* '''Tribunal judiciaire''' (tribunal_judiciaire): general first instance. '''Conseil de prud'hommes''' (conseil_prudhommes): labor. '''Tribunal de commerce''' (tribunal_commerce): commercial.

=== Administrative order ===

* '''Conseil d'État''': supreme admin court + government advisor ("avis" ≠ "arrêts").
* '''Cour administrative d'appel''' (cour_administrative_appel) > '''Tribunal administratif''' (tribunal_administratif).

=== Specialized ===

* '''Conseil constitutionnel''': QPC can invalidate provisions.
* '''Tribunal des conflits''': judicial vs admin jurisdiction conflicts.
* '''CNIL''': guidelines → search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "source": "cnil"}). Sanctions → search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "court": "cnil"}).
* '''CADA''': access to admin documents. Opinions → search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "source": "cada"}).

=== Financial order ===

* '''Cour des comptes''' (cour_des_comptes): apex of the financial order. Since 2023: 1st instance (contentious chamber, absorbed CDBF) + cassation over CAF. Pre-2023: appellate for CRC. search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "court": "cour_des_comptes"}).
* '''Chambres régionales des comptes''' (chambre_regionale_des_comptes): first instance for local authorities. search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "court": "chambre_regionale_des_comptes"}).
* '''Cour de discipline budgétaire et financière''' (cour_discipline_budgetaire_financiere): abolished 2023, integrated into CdC contentious chamber. Historical decisions (1954-2022) remain searchable. search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "court": "cour_discipline_budgetaire_financiere"}).
* '''Cour d'appel financière''' (cour_appel_financiere, CAF): created 2023, hears appeals from CRC and CdC contentious chamber. Reviewed en cassation by CdC. search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "court": "cour_appel_financiere"}).

=== Publication grades (official_grade) ===

'''Administrative courts''' (PUBLI_RECUEIL):
* A: "Publié au Recueil Lebon" (conseil_etat and tribunal_conflits only) — highest_importance
* B: "Mentionné aux Tables du Lebon" (conseil_etat and tribunal_conflits only) — high_importance
* R: "Intérêt jurisprudentiel majeur" (cour_administrative_appel and tribunal_administratif — equivalent of A) — highest_importance
* C+: "Intérêt signalé" (cour_administrative_appel and tribunal_administratif — equivalent of B) — high_importance
* C: "Inédit" — low_importance
* D, Z: "Intérêt limité aux parties" — minimal_importance

'''Cour de cassation''' (post-2021):
* rapport: "Sélectionné pour le Rapport annuel" — highest_importance
* bulletin: "Publié au Bulletin des arrêts" — high_importance
* diffuse: "Diffusé sur Légifrance" — low_importance
* non_diffuse: "Non diffusé" — minimal_importance

'''Cour de cassation''' (pre-2021, decisions before 2021-06-15):
* rapport (R): "Rapport annuel" — highest_importance
* bulletin (ancien P): "Publié au Bulletin" — high_importance
* bulletin_information (ancien B): "Mentionné au BICC" — medium_importance
* internet (ancien I): "Diffusé sur internet" — low_importance
* diffuse (ancien D): "Diffusé aux bases" — low_importance

'''Lower courts''' (cour_appel, tribunal_judiciaire, tribunal_commerce):
* particular_interest: "Arrêt d'intérêt particulier" — highest_importance (only ~1,400 decisions out of 1.25M)

'''Financial courts''' (cour_des_comptes, chambre_regionale_des_comptes, cour_discipline_budgetaire_financiere, cour_appel_financiere):
* recueil: "Publié au Recueil des juridictions financières" — high_importance (~25% of decisions)

=== Formations (ascending solemnity) ===

'''Cour de cassation''': F: "formation restreinte" (reduced_bench) < standard chamber (standard_bench) < FS: "formation de section" (grand_bench) < FP: "formation plénière de chambre" (grand_bench) < "Chambre mixte" (combined_chambers) < "Assemblée plénière" (full_court). Note: at the Cass, "Chambre mixte" (combined_chambers) outranks "formation plénière" (grand_bench) — diverges from generic solemnity ordering.

'''Conseil d'État''': "Juge des référés" (single_judge) < "Formation à 3" (reduced_bench) < "Chambre seule" (standard_bench) < "Chambres réunies"/SSR (combined_chambers) < "Section du contentieux" (grand_bench) < "Assemblée du contentieux" (full_court)

=== Reading a decision ===

Structure: '''visa''' ("Vu l'article...") = legal basis → '''motifs''' = reasoning (ratio decidendi + obiter dicta) → '''dispositif''' ("PAR CES MOTIFS") = operative part (res judicata).

Key terms:
* "Casse et annule" = quashes (→ "renvoi", case NOT over)
* "Casse sans renvoi" = quashes and decides directly
* "Rejette" = upholds appealed decision
* "Infirme"/"confirme" = reverses/upholds (appeal)
* "Débouté" = claim dismissed (civil) ≠ "relaxé" = acquitted (criminal)
* "Irrecevable" = inadmissible (can't examine merits) ≠ "mal fondé" = rejected on merits

Post-2019: Cass. switched from "Attendu que" to direct style. Both equally authoritative.
Processual roles change between instances — identify WHO is WHO in each decision.

=== Decision analysis — French courts ===

Supplements core "Structured decision analysis" (§5).

'''Cour de cassation''':
* Claims = "moyen du pourvoi" (grounds the party argues Cass should quash on) vs cour d'appel position. Moyen ≠ court's position — it's what the party claims was wrong.
* Visa ("Vu l'article...") = legal basis. Visa + cassation = lower court violated that text.
* Chapeau = principle stated before application. May be narrower or broader than statutory text.
* Cass controls law, not facts (see "Court system" above). Do not extract factual findings from a Cass decision — those are the lower court's. Cass says whether the law was correctly applied.

'''Conseil d'État''':
* More explicit reasoning than Cass. "Considérant" → direct style since 2019.
* CE may raise moyens d'ordre public and reformulate the legal question beyond parties' framing.
* Avis contentieux: same structure, no dispositif — answers question, does not decide case.
* Dispositif: numbered articles ("Article 1er: ...").

'''Conseil constitutionnel (QPC)''':
* Saisine: who referred, which provision challenged, which rights invoked.
* Dispositif: conformité / non-conformité / conformité sous réserve. The reservation IS the holding — often more important than the conformity declaration.
* Abrogation may be deferred ("à compter du...") — check effective date before citing.

'''Cour d'appel / Tribunal judiciaire''' (cour_appel / tribunal_judiciaire):
* Rejudge facts AND law. Factual findings are the court's own.
* Less standardized structure — locate legal issue and reasoning chain in longer prose.

=== Case number formats ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Court (court tag value) !! Format !! Example
|-
| cour_cassation || <code>YY-NN.NNN</code> || 24-14.752
|-
| cour_appel / tribunal_judiciaire || <code>YY/NNNNN</code> || 21/00091
|-
| conseil_etat || <code>NNNNNN</code> (sequential) || 486329
|-
| tribunal_administratif / cour_administrative_appel || <code>YYLLNNNNN</code> (year + court code) || 24PA01233
|-
| conseil_constitutionnel || <code>YYYY-NNN TYPE</code> || 2021-823 DC
|-
| tribunal_conflits || <code>CNNNN</code> || C4321
|-
| cour_des_comptes || <code>S-YYYY-NNNN</code> || S-2025-0381
|-
| cour_discipline_budgetaire_financiere || <code>NNN-NNN</code> || 264-865
|}

Cass. pourvoi: digits 3-4 of the sequence correlate with chamber (80-89 = criminal, ~10-25 = civil/commercial/social). A "Cass. civ. 1re" citing n°25-85.337 is suspicious — 85 suggests criminal chamber.

=== "Référés" ===

Provisional measures ("liberté", "suspension", "provision", "expertise"). Single judge, "ordonnance." Lower standard: "urgence" + "doute sérieux"/"moyens sérieux." Provisional only, no res judicata on merits. Always flag provisional nature when citing.

=== "Avis contentieux" ===

Advisory opinions: Cass (since 1991, L441-1 COJ), CE (since 1987, L113-1 CJA). Novel legal questions from lower courts. Not binding but highly persuasive. No res judicata, no parties. search(tags={"jurisdiction": "fr", "kind": "decision", "type": "advisory_opinion"}).

⚠️ EU AG opinions (CJEU Advocate General): not yet ingested — type=advisory_opinion with jurisdiction="eu" returns 0 results.

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