French Legal Research: Treaties
Role of Treaties
Title VI of the Constitution of 1958 (English unofficial translation) deals with Treaties and Other International Agreements entered into by the French government. Specifically, Article 55 states,
Treaties or agreements duly ratified or approved shall, upon publication, prevail over Acts of Parliament, subject, in regard to each agreement or treaty, to its application by the other party.
Therefore, when researching French law, it is important to check whether there are any treaties which apply to the subject area in which you are interested.
Where to find French Treaties
Treaties are published in the Journal Officiel, lois et décrets. Select treaties are available full-text on the Internet.
If you find a reference to a treaty or wish to check whether France has entered into a treaty in the subject area of your research, there are many resources on the Internet which assist in locating treaties on-line. A good place to start is the section of the Harvard Law School International Legal Studies Library Annotated Guide to Web Sites, specifically related to treaty research.
Be sure to check out the print indexes of treaties available from the United Nations, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary General, located at ILS Ref Desk JX 236.5 .T7, which indexes multilateral treaties deposited with the U.N., and Treaties in Force, at ILS Ref Desk JX 236.5 .M84, published by the United States Government Printing Office, which indexes treaties, currently in force, to which the United States is a party.
When researching treaties, two helpful Harvard Law School International Legal Studies Library guides are:
- How to
Find a Treaty When You Have a Citation, and
- How to Find a Treaty When You Don't Have a Citation
Be sure to check with the
ILS reference staff if you have questions about treaty
research.