Cour de Cassation

a French court. The only French court with a jurisdiction that covers the whole country but quite different from the British and American notion of a supreme court. There must be a violation de la loi before it can interfere with the lower court. It only 'breaks' the lower court's decision – the case is then remitted back to the court at the same level as the original court (although not the same one). The court is divided into five chambers for civil cases and one for criminal cases. If a case comes back again after having been reversed, it is sent to the Assemblée plenière on which all the chambers are represented. It will make a final decision if the issues are the same. There is the possibility of a third remit if matters are not the same or further information is required. It has over a hundred members, and it hears well over a hundred times more cases than the House of Lords. Judgments are given as a college, much like the Court of Justice of the European Communities. While there are no dissents, the rapport produced by one of the judges to the court is published.