In addition, a separate bar of specially certified barristers exists for trying cases at the French Court.

The Court also includes 12 masters (auditeurs), the lowest rank of justice, who are primarily concerned with administration.

The Divisional Court adjudicates where the subject matter of an appeal falls within the purview of multiple divisions.

The Bench of the Divisional Court seats the Chief Justice and a number of other judges from at least three other divisions relevant to a given case.

[c] The Chief Prosecutor is a judicial officer, but does not prosecute cases; instead, his function is to advise the Court on how to proceed, analogous to the Commissioner-in-Council's[d] role within the Conseil d'État (lit.

Duties include filing motions to bring cases before the Court "in the name of the law" and bringing cases before the French Court of Justice (Cour de justice de la République), which tries government officials for crimes committed while in office.

Barristers (avocats), though not technically officers of the court, play an integral role in the justice system.

Except for a few types of actions, advocate counsel in the form of a barrister is mandatory for any case heard at the Court or Council of State.

Barristers with exclusive rights of audience and admitted to practice law in either senior court are titled avocat au Conseil d'État et à la Cour de Cassation, or avocats aux Conseils ("Counsel at Senior Court") for short.

Admission to the Supreme Court bar[e] is particularly difficult, requiring special training and passing a notoriously stringent examination.

Once admitted, bar members can advise litigants on whether their actions are justiciable, that is, issuable and exceeding de minimis requirements—an important service since the court hears appeals only on points of law and not issues of fact.

In May 2019, Jean-François Ricard was appointed General Counsel at the Court of Cassation to exercise the function of anti-terrorism public prosecutor at the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, heading a new National Terrorism Prosecution Office (Parquet national antiterroriste [fr]; PNAT), beginning on 25 June 2019.

The typical outcome of a successful appeal is setting aside of the lower court's decision and remittal for reconsideration.

An intermediate appellate court, the Cour d'appel, hears general appeals de novo on points of law and procedure as well as errors of fact and reasoning.

The Court of Cassation only decides matters of points of law or procedure on the record, as opposed to factual errors.

Major felonies (indictable offences), called crimes in French, are tried by jury in a county Court of Assizes.

An argument in favor of this system was that allowing appeals to be tried by active judges after having been decided by a jury would in essence deny popular sovereignty.

Cases involving claims against government bodies, local authorities, or the central government, including all delegated legislation (e.g., statutory instruments, ministerial orders), are heard by the administrative courts, for which the court of last resort is the Conseil d'État.

The courts can, however, refuse to apply any statutory provision they consider inconsistent with France's international treaty obligations.

A 2009 reform, effective on 1 March 2010, enables parties to a lawsuit or trial to question the constitutionality of the law that is being applied to them.

[7][8] The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has jurisdiction over claims of government violations in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in any ECHR member country, which includes all EU member countries.