Cassation

Cassation, COURT OF. In the law of France, the act of annulling the decision of a court or judicial tribunal is called cassation, from the verb casser, 'to break or annul' (Lat. quater; Eng. quash); and the function of cassation, as regards the judgments of all the other courts, is assigned to a special tribunal called the Cour de Cassation, which may thus be regarded, in a certain sense, as the last and highest court of appeal. But as everything is excluded beyond the question whether or not the view taken of the law, and of the proper method of administering it by the inferior tribunal, has been the right one, the idea attached to this institution is less that of a court in the ordinary sense, than of a department of government to which the duty of inspecting the administration of justice is assigned. The demand for cassation can be made only by the parties to the suit, or by the procureur-général of the Court of Cassation for the public interest. The whole French jurisdiction, civil, commercial, administrative, criminal, and correctional, may be reviewed by the Court of Cassation, the only exceptions being the judgments of justices of the peace (where the amount is less than 100 francs), of tribunals of commerce (where the amount is less than 1500 francs), and of courts-martial, military and naval. These appeals do not involve any stay of execution, and the judgment in cassation is not a judgment on appeal, but merely has the effect of quashing the judgment below. The delay allowed for bringing a civil case before the Court of Cassation is two months for persons domiciled in France; but parties resident out of France have further time. In criminal matters, the procedure is greatly more prompt, three full days only being allowed. In all criminal and police cases the Court of Cassation may pronounce judgment immediately after the expiry of these days, and must do so within a month. Its staff consists of a president and three vice-presidents; 49 counsellors or ordinary judges; a procureur-général, or public prosecutor; 6 substitutes, who have the title of avocats-général; and several inferior officers. The judges are appointed by the President of the Republic, and their appointments are irrevocable. The three sections of the court are the Chambre des Requêtes, the Chambre Civile, the Chambre Criminelle. The whole court, when presided over by the minister of justice, possesses also the right of discipline and censure over all judges for grave offences not specially provided for by the law.