French law displays many characteristics that set it apart in a world class of its own. It can be said to proceed from a number of independent streams that coexist despite apparent contradiction. More than half of the 2283 articles of the famous Code Civile of 1804 remain unaltered; yet French administrative judges jealously guard their prerogative to create their own public law. And yet again, since the 1974 law empowering the legislature to convene the Constitutional Council that judges the constitutionality of laws under the 1958 Constitution, the courts’ distinction between ‘rules’ and ‘fundamental principles’ has grown steadily—a process that has been greatly accelerated since the 2003 law authorizing the government to ‘simplify the law.’

Introduction to French Law is a very practical book that makes clear sense out of the complex results of the complex bodies of law that govern the most important fields of law and legal practice in France today. Seventeen chapters, each written by a distinguished French legal scholar, cover the following field in substantive and procedural detail, with lucid explanations of French law in the following fields:

• Constitutional Law

• European Union Law

• Administrative Law

• Criminal Law

• Property Law

• Intellectual Property Law

• Contract Law

• Tort Liability

• Family Law

• Inheritance Law

• Civil Procedure

• Company Law

• Competition Law

• Labour Law

• Tax Law

• Private International Law

A book that is both a useful guide for practitioners and a comprehensive survey of French law (with no sacrifice of rationale or theory), Introduction to French Law has no peers. It is sure to spend more time in briefcases or on desks than on the shelf.