Legal Ignorance: France

Abstract

This contribution considers the role of legal ignorance in French private law. After a short description of how the issue of legal ignorance has been approached by French academic writers, the article focuses on three areas: the law of contract, limitation periods and tort law. With respect to contracts, the article demonstrates that ignorance of the law has principally been approached through the perspective of contractual consent. The study considers the extent to which ignorance of the law can vitiate contractual consent before turning to examine the role played by informational duties in strengthening contracting parties’ rights in the event of legal ignorance. The study then looks at how legal ignorance can impact on the application of limitation periods. This includes examining the issue of whether the fact that a new type of claim has only recently been recognized by the courts should mean that the starting point for the limitation period should only run from that moment. On the role of legal ignorance in tort law, the contribution in particular highlights the link between legal ignorance and issues relating to the retroactivity of case law rules. The article concludes by considering the prospects for legal change in this area.