Law In France Research Articles

Über den Rechtsexport des deutschen Verwaltungsrechts aus französischer Sicht

Abstract About the Legal Export of German Administrative Law from a French Perspective The export of German administrative law to France can be studied in the general context of movements of reciprocal influence between national legal systems. There is always ‘structural’ resistance of administrative law, undoubtedly linked to its conditions of creation in France. But even if the origins and shape of French administrative law can be an obstacle to its openness, the confrontation of administrative law with the logic of European law has helped to break its isolation. As can be seen in certain incursions of positive law, the resistance is attacked by the intermediate function of European law. The reception of German administrative law in France is conditional upon the maintenance, if not development, of the knowledge of German legal culture, and by this ‘doctrinal graft’ which is simultaneously situated at the beginning and at the heart of legal import. University research and teaching take part in spreading...

Arbitration and Company Law in France

Arbitration and Company Law in France

Becoming a Threat: The Burqa and the Contestation Over Public Morality Law in France

Through an examination of legislative debate and court opinions, this article illustrates that the French understanding of public order policing as a bulwark of freedom and national sovereignty deeply informed the development of (and contestation surrounding) the 2010 ban on all facial coverings in public. This ban notably includes the burqa or niqab, garments worn by a small minority of Muslim women in France. This article has two aims. The first is to expand on the sociolegal argument about the contested nature of rights protections and constitutional constraints on legislative authority by highlighting how a nation's legal culture can profoundly shape that contestation. The second aim of this article is to show, through a technique called legal archaeology, how longstanding French views on rights confront current European‐inspired alternative views that would give more weight to individualistic protections against state action than has traditionally been the case in France.

Conflict of interest in Health Technology Assessment decisions: case law in France and impact on reimbursement decisions

The slow reaction of French authorities to the so-called Mediator® saga in 2009 in France led to investigations that questioned the way conflicts of interest are reported. France implemented the Loi Bertrand (‘Bertrand Law’) in May 2013, known as the ‘French Sunshine Act’, with the aim of specifying the scope of disclosure obligations. This policy research reviewed the Loi Bertrand and reported case law from the French Council of State (COS) related to conflicts of interest in French Health technology assessment (HTA) opinion. The Loi Bertrand requires the publication of most of the agreements concluded between health-care professionals and companies and covers a vast range of health products. Commercial sales agreements of goods and services concluded between manufacturers and health-care professionals are a strong exception to this disclosure obligation. Six cases examined by the COS were analyzed, most of them related to the publication of guidelines or the removal of products from the list of reimbursed drugs and devices. These cases have been reviewed, as well as the impact of the ruling on reimbursement decisions. Four cases led to suspension or invalidation of decisions based on the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) recommendations due to conflicts of interest. In the two other cases, the HAS provided post hoc declarations of interest when required by the COS, and the COS considered the conflicts of interest as irrelevant for the decision. It appears that the COS based its decisions on two main criteria: the acknowledgement of negative conflicts of interest (a link with competitors) and the absence of declarations of conflicts of interest, which have to be presented when required by legal authorities irrespective of when they were completed (even posterior to the HAS opinion). However, the number of cases that have been decided against the HAS remains very limited with respect to the volume of assessments performed yearly. The strengthening of the regulation on declarations of interest might lead to more transparency but also to more cases decided by the COS. A new press investigation (in March 2015) related to alleged cases of conflict of interests led policy makers to amend the Bertrand Law in April 2015 and require the disclosure of amounts paid to health-care professionals by the industry.

Héritage, famille et liberté de disposer. Le régime castillan à la lumière des régimes coutumiers français

El comportamiento de las poblaciones en la Francia se guiaba por una concepción del poder diferente en cada parte del territorio. En las provincias del norte, donde imperaba el derecho consuetudinario, los padres no eran los meros continuadores de los usos hereditarios en vigor. Los trabajos realizados a lo largo de las tres últimas décadas muestran que en dichas provincias las normas sucesorias eran flexibles y adaptables a las distintas circunstancias de los individuos. Costumbre y derecho escrito en Francia, derechos estatutarios y leyes castellanas en España, establecían sin embargo un reparto diferente del poder en el seno de las familias. Mientras que en España y en el Midi francés, el derecho escrito contribuían a hacer del cabeza de familia un verdadero jefe, provisto de vastos poderes, el derecho consuetudinario francés, basado en la costumbre, se esforzaba en cambio por limitar la libertad de los padres. Aun así, y preocupado por hacer prevalecer el derecho de los herederos, el derecho consuetudinario era a la vez más igualitario y más desigualitario según se tratase de preservar la Casa, los derechos de los hijos o de toda la descendencia sin distinción de sexo. Los regímenes patriarcales del Midi francés y de la península Ibérica, igualitarios por accidente, tenían en su corazón preservar lo esencial, esto es, el rango y el poder de los padres.

Conflict Of Interest in HTA Recommendations and Case Law In France.

Conflict Of Interest in HTA Recommendations and Case Law In France.

Detecting Early Indicators of SMEs Failure: Survival Analysis Techniques

This paper extends the existing literature on empirical research in the field of credit risk default for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and proposes novel explanatory variables about past payment behavior of firms using two different approaches of survival analysis for sake of comparison. First a logistic regression application is compared to a standard Cox proportional hazard model. Both techniques are used to explore the relative strengths of explanatory variables. Later, a competing risk approach is adopting to allow for a flexible and more realistic analysis when several exit outcomes are considered. Considering the bankruptcy law in France, three possible causes of failures are defined: legal default (i.e. liquidation), continuation proceedings (Redressement or Sauvegarde) and informal negotiations with firm’s creditors. An early state od default is also used as dependent variable to capture distressed firms. The results shows incident of payment being alarming signal about SMEs’ bankruptcy when logit and Cox analysis are applied. Both approaches are similar in term of their performance tests. In addition to that, the competing risk approach leads to different interpretations of the impact of explanatory variables on indicators on pre-default states.

The Effect of Graduated Response Anti‐Piracy Laws on Music Sales: Evidence from an Event Study in France

Despite the problem that filesharing poses to the creative industries, there is little research on the effectiveness of governmental anti‐piracy policies. This study analyzes how the HADOPI graduated response law in France affected digital music sales. Using a panel of sales data from the four major labels, we applied a difference‐in‐difference approach, comparing sales trends in France to a control group of European countries. We find that increased consumer awareness of HADOPI caused French iTunes music sales to increase by 22‐25%. The observed sales increase is larger in high piracy genres than low piracy ones, strengthening the causal interpretation of our results.

Law and Commerce: The Evolution of Codified Business Law in Europe

This paper tracks the evolution of the codification of commercial law and company law, also known as business law. Although the literature on codification in general is vast, little attention has been dedicated to the importance of business law in this context despite the first major moves towards codification being achieved in this field. A comparative and historical survey of the codification of business law in France, England and Germany illustrates how the European legal landscape has been affected by the process of casting the law in statutory form. Indeed, regardless of the commonly held misconception that there is ‘a’ commercial code, the legislative responses to the needs of commerce have varied widely from country to country, for while company law was always in focus, the rest of the corpus differs substantially. The code de commerce of 1807 was primarily of a procedural nature, while the German commercial code of 1861 created its own ‘private law cosmos’ and the late English codes adopted yet another, very selective, strategy. The aim of this comparative study is to understand the foundations of the legal institutions of the nineteenth century which still form the basis of our current statutes. This in turn allows some predictions for likely future developments to be made.

Physician-patient relationship and medical accident victim compensation: some insights into the French regulatory system.

Given the growing amount of medical litigation heard by courts, the 2002 Kouchner law in France has created the Office National d'Indemnisation des Accidents Médicaux (ONIAM), whose main aim is to encourage out-of-court settlements when a conflict between a physician and the victim of a medical accident occurs. More than 10 years after the implementation of this law, the statistics analysing its effectiveness are contradictory, which raises the question of the potential negative effects of the ONIAM on the compensation system. In order to address this question, the article analyses the impact of the ONIAM on the nature of settlement negotiations between the physician and the victim. Using a dynamic game within incomplete information, we develop a comparative analysis of two types of compensation systems in case of medical accidents: socialised financing granted by the ONIAM and private financing provided by the physician. We show that the ONIAM could encourage out-of-court settlements provided that the hypothesis of judicial error is relevant. On the contrary, in the case of a low probability of judicial errors, the ONIAM could be effective only for severe medical accidents.

How do labour laws affect unemployment and the labour share of national income? The experience of six OECD countries, 1970–2010

AbstractUsing longitudinal data on labour law in France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States over the period 1970–2010, the authors estimate the impact of labour regulation on unemployment and the labour share of national income. Their dynamic panel data analysis distinguishes between the short‐run and long‐run effects of regulatory change. They find that worker‐protective labour laws in general have no consistent relationship to unemployment but are positively correlated with labour's share of national income. Laws specifically relating to working time and employee representation are found to have beneficial effects on both efficiency and distribution thus proxied.

Gestation pour autrui pratiquée à l’étranger : conséquences pour les couples français et évolution du cadre légal dans certains pays

Surrogacy is not allowed by law in France but is practiced in other countries in Europe or the world. There is a wide disparity in the legal framework between countries which leads to a real reproductive tourism because couples move to get what is not allowed in their country, especially surrogacy. Our work presents the differences in the legal framework of medical assisted procreation, the situations that allow French couples access to this technology abroad and the difficulties when coming back to France to recognize the French nationality and the filiation of children born abroad. Recent decisions of the Court of Cassation confirmed the change of the certificate of birth of the child born abroad was not possible. The description of the situation in the Czech Republic and Ukraine shows that these countries want to limit and to supervise on their territory, access to these techniques for foreign couples.

Contribution of the ethics committee of the French society of intensive care medicine to a scenario for the implementation of organ donation after Maastricht III-type cardiac death in France

French law allows organ donation after death due to cardiocirculatory arrest. In the Maastricht classification, type III non-heart-beating donors are those who experience cardiocirculatory arrest after the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments. French authorities in charge of regulating organ donation (Agence de la Biomédecine, ABM) are considering organ collection from Maastricht type III donors. We describe a scenario for Maastricht type III organ donation that fully complies with the ethical norms governing care to dying patients. That organ donation may occur after death should have no impact on the care given to the patient and family. The dead-donor rule must be followed scrupulously: the organ retrieval procedure must neither cause nor hasten death. The decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatments, withdrawal modalities, and care provided to the patient and family must adhere strictly to the requirements set forth in patient-rights legislation (the 2005 Léonetti law in France) and should not be influenced in any way by the possibility of organ donation. A major ethical issue regarding the family is how best to transition from discussing treatment-withdrawal decisions to discussing possible organ retrieval for donation should the patient die rapidly after treatment withdrawal. Close cooperation between the healthcare team and the organ retrieval team is crucial to minimize the distress of family members during this transition. Modalities for implementing Maastricht type III organ donation are discussed here, including the best location for withdrawing life-sustaining treatments (operating room or intensive care unit).

Do Labour Laws Increase Equality at the Expense of Higher Unemployment? The Experience of Six OECD Countries, 1970-2010

Using longitudinal data on labour law in France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA for the four decades after 1970, we estimate the impact of labour regulation on unemployment and equality, using labour's share of national income as a proxy for the latter. We employ a dynamic panel data analysis which distinguishes between short-run and long-run effects of legal change. We find that worker-protective labour laws in general have no consistent relationship to unemployment but are positively correlated with equality. Laws relating to working time and employee representation are found to have beneficial impacts on both efficiency and distribution.

New President, New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy: Comparative International Perspectives and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Laws in France*

This article provides an overview of French legislative history, Parliamentary debates, and recent amendments in hESC research policy, as well as additional comparisons with laws across the European Union. Unlike policy discussions in the U.S., French dialogue on hESC research generally rejects the arbitrary division between the status of the embryo and hESCs, recognizing that hESC research necessarily requires the destruction of human embryos. Accordingly, French discourse debates the competing interests of science with secular ethical and civic considerations relating to the symbolic status of the embryo and society's duty to moderate what constitutes appropriate boundaries on research. Parliament recently amended France's hESC research laws to explicitly permit hESC research, signaling the beginning of reform efforts under President Hollande's new power structure, but the inclusion of secular moral considerations in the policy debate will likely restrain the extent of any future changes.

Do Labour Laws Increase Equality at the Expense of Higher Unemployment? The Experience of Six OECD Countries, 1970-2010

Using longitudinal data on labour law in France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA for the four decades after 1970, we estimate the impact of labour regulation on unemployment and equality, using labour’s share of national income as a proxy for the latter. We employ a dynamic panel data analysis which distinguishes between short-run and long-run effects of legal change. We find that worker-protective labour laws in general have no consistent relationship to unemployment but are positively correlated with equality. Laws relating to working time and employee representation are found to have beneficial impacts on both efficiency and distribution.

Nature of Bank Deposits in France

The author examines the legal nature of rights that a person acquires upon transfer of money to a bank in France. In particular, a question arises who the owner of money held with a bank is. The author argues that a distinction is to be made between actual banknotes or coins that are transferred and a 'deposit', i.e., personal claim against the bank. Bank deposits held for a fixed term in France are called Compte a Terme or term deposit accounts. In France, consumers prefer using cards or cheques for most purchases and tend to pay cash only for small sums. FICOBA registers all financial accounts which are open on French territory, including accounts held in the name of natural and legal persons, as well as for non-residents. The article describes the position of France law in relation to the bank deposit and concludes that the main legal features of bank deposit are similar to those of a loan.

L'Inquinamento Atmosferico: Uno Studio Comparato (Italia, Spagna E Francia) (Air Pollution Rules and Regulations: A Comparative Study (Italy, Spain and France))

It aims to carry out a comparison between Italian, Spanish and France law on air pollution. It studies national order solutions and transposition and application of European Union Law. It tries to present any interesting legal instruments for reducing air pollution.

Environmental Criminal Law in France, Hungary and the European Union

A környezetvédelmi büntetőjog a közelmúltban mind Franciaországban, mind Magyarországon az európai uniós környezeti büntetőjog égisze alatt fejlődött. Franciaországban és Magyarországon is létezett környezetvédelmi büntetőjog az európai uniós zöldbüntetőjog keletkezése előtt is. A francia és a magyar zöldbüntetőjogban hasonlóságokat és eltéréseket is találunk. Magyarországon új büntető törvénykönyv készül. Az új magyar Btk. további lépéseket tesz egy kongruens európai zöldbüntetőjog megteremtése felé.

Contribution of the ethics committee of the French Intensive Care Society to describing a scenario for implementing organ donation after Maastricht type III cardiocirculatory death in France

French law allows organ donation after death due to cardiocirculatory arrest. In the Maastricht classification, type III non-heart-beating donors are those who experience cardiocirculatory arrest after the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments. French authorities in charge of regulating organ donation (Agence de la Biomédecine, ABM) are considering organ collection from Maastricht type III donors. We describe a scenario for Maastricht type III organ donation that fully complies with the ethical norms governing care to dying patients. That organ donation may occur after death should have no impact on the care given to the patient and family. The dead-donor rule must be followed scrupulously: the organ retrieval procedure must neither cause nor hasten death. The decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatments, withdrawal modalities, and care provided to the patient and family must adhere strictly to the requirements set forth in patient-rights legislation (the 2005 Léonetti law in France) and should not be influenced in any way by the possibility of organ donation. A major ethical issue regarding the family is how best to transition from discussing treatment-withdrawal decisions to discussing possible organ retrieval for donation should the patient die rapidly after treatment withdrawal. Close cooperation between the healthcare team and the organ retrieval team is crucial to minimize the distress of family members during this transition. Modalities for implementing Maastricht type III organ donation are discussed here, including the best location for withdrawing life-sustaining treatments (operating room or intensive care unit).