The French model of administrative justice is based on the idea that administrative judges, although independent from the administration, must be part of it. This results in numerous organic and functional relationships between the Council of State and the executive branch.
From an organic point of view, it should be noted that members of the Council of State have the status of senior civil servants and may be temporarily employed within the public administration.
From a functional point of view, the most relevant aspect is that the Council of State is both the supreme administrative judge and the government’s advisory body. As a judge, it has a wide range of jurisdiction and considerable powers that allow it to intervene in the administrative process.
However, these close relations with the public administration have given rise to strong criticism regarding the real independence and impartiality of the Council of State. This criticism has reinforced the separation of the Council’s administrative and judicial functions without calling into question the French model.
Ultimately, and although it may seem paradoxical, the reason why the Council of State is such a powerful institution in the French legal system and why it is so successful in protecting individual rights against the public administration lies in its very proximity to the public administration: the decisions by which it limits the administrative powers are all the more authoritative because they are handed down by judges who are fully aware of the needs of public action.
Posted by Jacques Petit, Professor at the University of Rennes.
Jacques Petit. 2026. The relationships between the French Council of State and the executive power.. In Beyond Adjudication, edited by Wojciech Piątek. Edward Elgar Publishing, pages 37-60.