The Legal Opinions of Consultant Judges as a Legitimation of the Conseil d’État’s Law-Making Power
Type de matériel :
TexteLangue : français Détails de publication : 2026.
Ressources en ligne : Abrégé : The conclusions (public legal opinion) of the rapporteurs publics (reporting judges) at the French Conseil d’État are striking for their omnipresence in the doctrinal discourse surrounding the institution’s rulings. The 21st century was marked first and foremost by the Conseil d’État’s fierce defense of its public rapporteurs and their conclusions against the threat of the European Convention on Human Rights. Relying on new information and communication technologies, the Conseil d’État keeps encouraging the visibility of these documents. In light of the conditions under which they are produced, the conclusions are perceived as providing additional rationale for the decision to which they relate. What’s more, they carry their own normativity in that they constantly reinterpret the Conseil d’État’s jurisprudential past. Thus, far from being constrained by case law, reporting judges are among its principal craftsmen. In so doing, they establish self-referentiality by which they contribute to the legitimization of the institution’s jurisprudential power, which is essential to the Conseil d’État as a whole.
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The conclusions (public legal opinion) of the rapporteurs publics (reporting judges) at the French Conseil d’État are striking for their omnipresence in the doctrinal discourse surrounding the institution’s rulings. The 21st century was marked first and foremost by the Conseil d’État’s fierce defense of its public rapporteurs and their conclusions against the threat of the European Convention on Human Rights. Relying on new information and communication technologies, the Conseil d’État keeps encouraging the visibility of these documents. In light of the conditions under which they are produced, the conclusions are perceived as providing additional rationale for the decision to which they relate. What’s more, they carry their own normativity in that they constantly reinterpret the Conseil d’État’s jurisprudential past. Thus, far from being constrained by case law, reporting judges are among its principal craftsmen. In so doing, they establish self-referentiality by which they contribute to the legitimization of the institution’s jurisprudential power, which is essential to the Conseil d’État as a whole.




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