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Matthieu Boissavy, Thomas Clay

Reconstructing the Legal System Publication date : May 25, 2006

In France, the legal system is undergoing a crisis. As a result, the French hold it in poor esteem, regarding it as slow, ineffectual, understaffed and too expensive.
The authors’ aim is to appease this situation and to help focus the attention of the legal machinery on the accused.
After evaluating the legal system, pinpointing and analysing its failures, they propose a wide-sweeping, realistic reconstruction of both penal and civil Law in France.
Described here, in detail, are their 110 proposals for reform. These include an increase in the number of electronically-assisted legal acts, the abolition of the Council of State, the separation of magistrates’ careers, and the abolition of petty courts.

Matthieu Boissavy is a lawyer in both the Paris and the New York bar.
Thomas Clay is a professor at the faculty of law at the University of Versailles and vice-dean of the University.