POINTERS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
(A) Campaign Financing is the Issue
Breaking laws related to campaign financing trial has initiated of the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The trial got concluded Tuesday in Paris, after a month during which the court sought to determine whether he broke laws on campaign financing in his unsuccessful 2012 re-election bid.
The verdict is to be delivered on September 30.
Prosecutors have requested a six-month prison term, as well as a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 3,750 euros ($4,468).
(B) Nature of offence
Sarkozy was France’s president from 2007 to 2012, denies any wrongdoing. The offence related to having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande. He has appealed that verdict.
(C) French legal system
France is a civil law system which means it places a greater emphasis on statutes as found within various codes, instead of case law. The idea of stare decisis does not come into play in civil law systems as each case is decided on an individual basis according to how it relates to the codified law and how the judge chooses to interpret that law. Thus, two cases on the same topic could have very different outcomes.
France is a republic and is currently governed by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, which was passed on October 4, 1958. There have been recent reforms (in 2008) to the constitution that have altered the law-making process, giving parliament a stronger vote in passing laws.
The courts in France are also divided into two parts – the judicial courts (those dealing with criminal and civil laws), and the administrative courts. The highest of the judiciary courts is the Supreme Court of Appeals (Cour de cassation).
