Court of Cassation

The Court of Cassation is the supreme court for civil and criminal cases in France. It is France's highest court, and one of the country's four superior courts, along with the Council of State, the Constitutional Council and the Jurisdictional Disputes Tribunal. It primarily hears appeals against the decisions of courts of assizes and courts of appeal (appeals-in-cassation). The Court only reviews questions of law (but not questions of fact) and bears ultimate responsibility for a uniform interpretation and application of statutory law throughout France. It also filters out appeals challenging the constitutionality of statutes before forwarding them to the Constitutional Council, reviews lower court verdicts on request of the European Court of Human Rights and hears several other types of cases. The Court is organized into three civil chambers, a commerce chamber, a labour chamber, a criminal chamber, a prosecutorial service and various other bodies. The Court usually rules in panels of three or five judges; the most significant cases are adjudicated by plenary sessions. The Court was established in 1790 as the Tribunal of Cassation during the French Revolution; its original purpose was to act as a court of error with revisory jurisdiction over lower provincial prerogative courts (parlements).