It was a true privilege to be invited this morning by President HĂ©lène Judes to the Tribunal judiciaire d’Aix-en-Provence, to welcome a distinguished delegation of American judges and scholars for a day of comparative reflection on our two legal traditions.
🏛️ I had the pleasure of listening to remarkable interventions:
→ First Justice Michael Vitali on Comparative Criminal Procedure, offering a sharp perspective on the structural differences between our procedural systems, especially regarding pre-trial, standard of proof and incarceration rate in the US.
→ Professor Keith Fischer on the Inherent Power of Courts, a fascinating exploration of a doctrine that has no exact equivalent in French law, pertaining to how much power a judge holds over both the parties and their counsel.
→ Judge Pamela Stratigakis (Criminal Court, Illinois) and Director Artie on Reentry and Second Chances, with thought-provoking developments on pre-trial detention and financial bail — a subject where the gap between our two systems is particularly striking, and which gave rise to several questions amongst the audience.
🎓 For my own part, I had the honour of presenting the lines of convergence and divergence between French and American law in civil proceedings, addressing in particular:
– the mode of appointment of French judges (neither elected nor appointed by the executive) and the constitutional guarantee of their irremovability,
– the guiding principles of the civil trial (principes directeurs du procès),
– due process,
– impartiality, both subjective and objective,
– the standard of proof, or lack thereof, as our American friends may think,
-the admissibility of evidence obtained in an unfair or unlawful manner,
– the rule of precedent,
– contempt of court,
– and the absence, under French law, of any disciplinary power of the judge over counsel.
These exchanges remind us how much our two legal cultures — both heirs to the rule of law, yet shaped by very different histories — have to learn from one another. Comparative law is never a sterile exercise: it is, quite simply, the best mirror we have to better understand our own system.
My warmest thanks to President Hélène Judes and to Chief Clerk Caroline Serres for the perfect organisation of this morning, and for their commitment to keeping the dialogue between our judiciaries alive.
