The principle of equality in the French Constitutional Council’s case-law: what changes after ten years of ex post review implementation?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21564/2414-990x.150.206778Keywords:
French Constitutional Council, ex ante review, ex post review, concrete control, abstract control, techniques of constitutional control, constitutional block, principle of equality, self-restraint, protection of the fundamental rights and freedomsAbstract
In France, the principle of equality has its source in a set of at least fifteen articlesbelonging to one of the three constitutional texts that form the “constitutional block”. Because of this privileged place, which is incomparable with regard to other fundamental rights and freedoms, the principle of equality figured in almost a half of the decisions pronounced by the Constitutional Council from its creation till 2010, when the ex post review – called “procedure of QPC” – began to be implemented in France. Despite the relevant statistics, the constitutional judges’ activity in this field was marked by voluntary self-restraint. The object of this study is to analyse if in the first ten years of QPC procedure implementation their approach has changed in order to strengthen the protection of the litigants’ rights and what are the technics of control they use in order to realise such changes.
References
DE TOCQUEVILLE, De la démocratie en Amérique, vol. II, Paris, Garnier-Flammarion, 1981, p. 123.
M. HAURIOU, La science sociale traditionnelle, Paris, Larose, 1896, p. 80.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was the most popular philosopher among members of the Jacobin Club during the period of the French Revolution.
G. CONAC, M. DEBÈNE, G. TEBOUL (ed.), Déclaration des droits et l’homme et du citoyen de 1789. Histoire, analyses et commentaires, Paris, Economica, 1993, 365 p.
G. VEDEL, “L’égalité”, in C. A. COLLIARD (ed.), La Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789. Ses origines, sa pérennité, Paris, La Documentation française, 1990, p. 171.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 71-44 DC of 16 July 1971, Law completing the provisions of articles 5 and 7 of the Law of 1 July 1901 on association agreements, available in English: https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/decision/1971/7144DC.htm.
Constitutional Council’s decision No. 2008-564 DC of 19 June 2008.
O. JOUANJAN, “Le Conseil constitutionnel, gardien de l’égalité ?”, Jus Politicum, No. 7, 2012, available online: http://juspoliticum.com/article/Le-Conseil-constitutionnel-gardien-de-l-egalite-459.html.
Constitutional Council, Decision No. 99-416 DC of 23 July 1999).
LEVADE, “Discrimination positive et principe d’égalité en droit français”, Pouvoirs, No. 111, 2004, p. 55-71.
D. ROUSSEAU, “L’identité constitutionnelle, bouclier de l’identité nationale ou branche de l’étoile européenne?”, in L. BURGORGUE-LARSEN (ed.), L’identité constitutionnelle saisie par les juges en Europe, Pedone, Paris, 2011, p. 96.
Constitutional Council, «Commentaire. Décision n 2018-786 DC du 26 juillet 2018, Loi relative à la protection du secret des affaires», available online: https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/sites/default/files/as/root/bank_mm/decisions/2018768dc/2018768dc_ccc.pdf.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 73-51 DC of 27 December 1973.
Council of State, decision Société des concerts du Conservatoire, 9 March 1951.
F. FABBRINI, “Kelsen in Paris: France’s Constitutional Reform and the Introduction of a Posteriori Constitutional Review of Legislation”, German Law Journal, vol. 9, No. 10, 2008, p. 1297-1312.
F. MELUN-SOUCRAMANIEN, “Le principe d’égalité dans la jurisprudence du Conseil constitutionnel. Quelles perspectives pour la question prioritaire de constitutionnalité ?”, Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel, No. 29, 2010, p. 89-100.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 82-146 DC of 18 November 1982.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 98-407 DC of 14 January 1999.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 93-326 DC of 11 August 1993
Constitutional Council, decision No. 97-389 DC of 22 April 1997.
ROUDIER, “Le Conseil constitutionnel face à l’avènement d’une politique sécuritaire”, Les Nouveaux Cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel, No. 51, 2016, p. 37-50.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 93-320 DC of 21 June 1993.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 82-153 DC of 14 January 1983.
G. CALVÈS, “Les politiques de discriminations positives”, Problèmes Politiques et Sociaux, No. 822, 1999, p. 5.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 87-232 DC of 7 January 1988; No. 89-266 DC of 9 January 1990; No. 90-280 DC of 6 December 1990; No. 90-283 DC of 8 January 1991; No. 91-291 DC of 6 May 1991; No. 91-296 DC of 29 July 1991; No. 92-316 DC of 20 January 1993; No. 94-348 DC of 3 August 1994; No. 95-369 DC of 28 December 1995; No. 96-377 DC of 16 July 1996.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 81-129 DC of 30 and 31 October 1981; No. 85-189 DC of 17 July 1985; No. 86-217 DC of 18 September 1986.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 85-197 DC of 23 August 1985.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 74-54 DC of 15 January 1975.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2018-757 QPC of 25 January 2019.
W.A. BOGART, “Introduction”, in W.A. BOGART (ed.), Consequences: The Impact of Law and Its Complexity, University of Toronto Press, 2002, p. 3-20.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2010-1 QPC of 28 May 2010.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2010-14/22 QPC of 30 July 2010.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 2010-15/23 QPC of 23 July 2010; No. 2010-81 QPC of 23 July 2010; No. 2011-153 QPC of 13 July 2011; No. 2011-160 QPC of 9 September 2011.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2015-475 QPC of 17 July 2015.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 2014-437 QPC of 20 January 2015; No. 2015-473 QPC of 26 June 2015.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2019-776 QPC of 20 April 2019.
O. PFERSMANN, “Le renvoi préjudiciel sur exception d’inconstitutionnalité: la nouvelle procédure de contrôle concret a posteriori”, Petites affiches, No. 254, 2008, p. 103;
D. ROUSSEAU, “La question prioritaire de constitutionnalité: un big-bang juridictionnel?”, RDP, No. 3, 2009, p. 631;
R. FRAISSE, “QPC et interprétation de la loi”, Petites affiches, No. 89, 2011, p. 5.
GREWE, “Le contrôle de constitutionnalité de la loi en Allemagne : quelques comparaisons avec le système français”, Pouvoirs, No. 137, 2011, p. 143;
M. FROMONT, La justice constitutionnelle dans le monde, Paris, Dalloz, 1996, p. 41.
Decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court No. 2542-O of 23 November 2017 and No. 2931-O-P of 26 November 2018.
J. PINI, Recherches sur le contentieux de constitutionnalité, PUAM, 1997, p. 329;
G. DRAGO, Contentieux constitutionnel français, PUF, 2011, p. 41-42.
J.-H. STAHL & C. MAUGÜE, La question prioritaire de constitutionnalité, Dalloz, 2011, p. 7.
M. VERDUSSEN, “La Cour constitutionnelle belge exerce-t-elle un contrôle concret?”, Annuaire international de justice constitutionnelle, vol. 29, 2014, p. 17-23.
ROUSSEAU, “Le procès constitutionnel”, Pouvoirs, No. 137, 2011, p. 49.
M. FATIN-ROUGE STEFANINI, “La singulariré du contrôle exercé a posteriori par le Conseil constitutionnel: la part du concret et la part d’abstrait”, Les Nouveaux cahiers du Conseil constitutionnel, No. 38, 2013, p. 211;
M. FATIN-ROUGE STEFANINI, “Les effets des décisions du Conseil constitutionnel en matière de QPC”, in N. DANELCIUC-COLODROVSCHI (ed.), Évolutions et limites du contrôle de constitutionnalité. Regards croisés entre les expériences française et est-européennes, PUAM, 2018, p. 61-73.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 2010-14/22 QPC of 30 July 2010; No. 2011-125 QPC of 6 May 2011; No. 2012-233 QPC of 21 February 2012; No. 2013-331 QPC of 5 July 2013.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2010-1 QPC of 28 May 2010.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2017-651 QPC of 31 May 2017.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 59-2 DC of 24 June 1959.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2010-28 QPC of 17 September 2010.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2010-88 QPC of 21 January 2011.
Constitutional Council, decision No. 2015-503 QPC of 4 December 2015.
Constitutional Council, decisions No. 2016-538 QPC of 22 April 2016; No. 2016-610 QPC of 10 February 2017; No. 2017-643/650 QPC of 7 July 2017.
Downloads
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Nataşa DANELCIUC-COLODROVSCHI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
