Composition
A General Session of the Council of State is presided over by the Prime Minister or, in his absence, the Minister of Justice. However, since the real presidency of the Council is held by the Vice-President, he usually presides all but the most ceremonial assemblies. This is also done for obvious reasons pertaining to the separation of powers. The current Vice-President is Jean-Marc Sauvé.
Other members of the Council include, by decreasing order of importance:
- Department heads (président de section)
- Councillors ordinary (conseiller d'État ordinaire)
- Councillors extraordinary (conseiller d'État extraordinaire)
- Masters of requests (maître des requêtes)
- Senior masters (auditeur de première classe)
- Masters (auditeur de deuxième classe)
The Vice-President is appointed by Order-in-Council on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice and is selected from among the Council's department heads or councillors ordinary. Division heads are similarly appointed and selected from among the councillors ordinary.
Councillors ordinary, masters of requests, and senior masters are appointed based on seniority from the preceding rank. Appointees from outside the Council may include administrative law judges or may come from outside the justice system. Masters are recruited from among the graduates of France's National Administration Academy. The Council sits in the Palais Royal located in Paris.
The Council is divided into 7 divisions:
- Administrative Claims (section du contentieux) — see below.
- Report and Studies (section du rapport et des études): writes the annual report, conducts studies and helps to oversee judgments and verdicts are carried out.
- Finances (section des finances), the Interior (section de l'intérieur), Welfare and Social Security (section sociale), Public Works (section des travaux publics) and Administrative Issues (section de l'administration, created by a March 2008 order) review any and all Cabinet-issued orders and statutory instruments and examine and sign off on all Orders of Council (décrets en Conseil d'État). These reviews, though mandatory, are not binding. The Council of State also studies legal issues and problems brought before the Cabinet. In addition, it is responsible for carrying out administrative court inspections.
Read more about this topic: Conseil D'Etat (France)
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“The proposed Constitution ... is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nor diminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in beginning and in the middle and in ending except that each generation has something different at which they are all looking. By this I mean so simply that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it because everybody says it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)