The Court of Justice of the Republic

 The Court of Justice of the Republic

The Court of Justice of the Republic, jurisdiction specialized, qualified to come to a conclusion about any crime and offence made by a minister in the performance of his duties.

The question of knowing if it is necessary to establish a specialized jurisdiction, and correlatively to withdraw the members of the government from the penal jurisdictions of common right, was very discussed. The principle of equality of all in front of justice pleads,  a priori,  against the institution of such a jurisdiction. In favour of this one, one generally answers that same intrigues cannot be considered in an identical way according to whether they are made by people exerting of the public office, or that they are made by ordinary citizens. In the French constitutional tradition, this second way was preferred.

Before the constitutional reform of 1993, the penal responsibility for the ministers came under the responsibility of High the Court of Justice. The initiative of its sasine was left with the benevolence of the members of Parliament, so that the spirit in favour could prevent the repression of criminal intrigues. It through procedure appeared in a manifest way at the time of the business of the "contaminated blood" where the majority of the deputies of the French National Assembly had disallowed the proposals for a sasine of High the Court of Justice. The agitation caused by this business justified the constitutional reform of July 1993, which founded a qualified court to judge the crimes and the offences whose ministers are suspectés (articles 68-1 and 68-2 of the Constitution of 1958).

The Court of Justice of the Republic is composed by six judges elected by each parliamentary assembly in their centre, and by three magistrates of the seat at the Supreme court of appeal.

The sasine of the Court of Justice of the Republic is opened to any person who estimates themselves injured, and to the Attorney General close the Supreme court of appeal. A commission is obligatorily consulted, in order to filter the requests and to decide appropriateness of sasine. This precaution constitutes a parapet necessary in order to prevent that a great number of abusive complaints do not flow before the Court of Justice of the Republic. To guarantee its independence, the commission of the requests is exclusively made up magistrates attached to the Court of Auditors and, Council Supreme court of appeal of State.

The judgments of the Court of Justice of the Republic, can be the subject of an appeal before the Supreme court of appeal, which sits then in plenary assembly.