Court of Cassation (France)

Court Of Cassation (France)

The Court of Cassation (French: Cour de cassation ; ) is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream with scope of review in determining miscarriages of justice or in certifying questions of law. The Court is located in the Palais de Justice building in Paris.

The Court is the court of final appeal for civil and criminal matters. As a judicial court, it does not hear cases involving claims against administrators or public bodies which generally fall within the purview of administrative courts, for which the Council of State acts as the supreme court of appeal. Nor does the Court adjudicate constitutional issues; instead, constitutional review lies solely with the Constitutional Council. Thus, France does not have one senior adjudicatory body but four (including the Jurisdictional Disputes Tribunal), and collectively, these four courts form the topmost tier of the court system.

The Court was established in 1790 under the name Tribunal de cassation during the French Revolution, and its original purpose was to act as a court of error with revisory jurisdiction over lower provincial prerogative courts (Parlements). However, much about the Court continues the earlier Paris Parlement Court.