The New Writing Method and Structure of the Decisions of the French Constitutional Council in the field of Conformity of Ordinary and Organic Laws with the Constitution

Prior to the creation of the constitutional Council, the structure of the French courts was twofold, with some cases being heard in judicial courts and others in administrative courts. Under the Seventh Section of the 1958 Constitution (Articles 56 to 63), a court was established that performed important functions from the constitutional justice (compatibility of the ordinary and organic law with the Constitution) to the electoral justice (adjudication of electoral claims). However, it did not fall into the category of administrative or judicial courts. Although at the beginning the style of writing and structuring the decisions of the council was close to that of the Supreme administrative court, over time it abandoned concision and added reasoning to the decisions. Apart from insisting on a part of the legal doctrine, on the one hand, due to the special function of this institution in maintaining the legal-constitutional order and also supporting fundamental rights and freedoms and on the other hand, democratic control over its performance, the council decided in 2016 to review the writing method and the structure of its decisions, with the aim of further reasoning and better comprehensibility. In this study, by examining the balance of the council in the field of conformity of ordinary legislation with the constitution, we will examine the successes and challenges facing this institution in achieving those goals.