Daniel AMSON - A History of Political and Criminal Responsibility in France (1789-1958)

Pouvoirs n°92 - La responsabilité des gouvernants - janvier 2000 - p.31-60

From 1789 to 1940 most French Constitutions included a special procedure to deal with the criminal responsibility of ministers. But it is often linked to their political responsibility and it is sometimes easy to refer to the former in order to deal with the latter. This possible substitution has not escaped the attention of political leaders. As early as 1792, there has been a tendency to get rid of “politically incorrect” ministers by refering to alleged crimes or misdemeanors. The process would be used repeatedly, in particular at the time of the trial of Malvy and Caillaux under the Third Republic. But surprisingly when a minister would commit real crimes, the members of Parliament would let him be judged by criminal law courts rather than by the High Court whose role it is to rule on crimes committed by members of the government. The article presents 150 years of history of the criminal responsibility of ministers and highlights its meanness, its injustice and its aberration. Résumé

Référence électonique : Daniel AMSON, "A History of Political and Criminal Responsibility in France (1789-1958)", Pouvoirs, revue française d’études constitutionnelles et politiques, n°92, 2000, p.31-6. Consulté le 01-06-2012. URL : http://www.revue-pouvoirs.fr/A-History-of-Political-and.html