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CORSE

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 791 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CORSE (See also:

CORSICA) See also:Ajaccio Corse. Before I790 See also:France was divided into See also:thirty-three See also:great and seven small military governments, often called provinces, which are, however, to be distinguished from the provinces formed under the feudal See also:system. The great governments were: See also:Alsace, See also:Saintonge and See also:Angoumois, See also:Anjou, See also:Artois, Aunis, See also:Auvergne, See also:Beam and See also:Navarre, See also:Berry, Bourbonnais, Bourgogne (See also:Burgundy), Bretagne (See also:Brittany), See also:Champagne, See also:Dauphine, Flandre, See also:Foix, Franche-See also:Comte, See also:Guienne and Gascogne (See also:Gascony), Ile-de-France, See also:Languedoc, See also:Limousin, See also:Lorraine, Lyonnais, See also:Maine, See also:Marche, See also:Nivernais, Normandie, See also:Orleanais, Picardie, See also:Poitou, See also:Provence, See also:Roussillon, See also:Touraine and Corse. The eight small governments were: See also:Paris, See also:Boulogne and Boulonnais, Le See also:Havre, See also:Sedan, Toulois, Pays Messin and Verdunois and Saumurois. At the See also:head of each See also:department is a See also:prefect, a See also:political See also:official nominated by the See also:minister of the interior and appointed by the See also:president, who acts as See also:general See also:agent of the See also:government and representative of the central authority. To aid him the prefect has a general secretary and an advisory See also:body (conseil de prefecture), the members of which are appointed by the president, which has See also:jurisdiction in certain classes of disputes arising out of See also:administration and must, in certain cases, be consulted, though the prefect is not compelled to follow its See also:advice. The prefect supervises the See also:execution of the See also:laws; has wide authority in regard to policing, public See also:hygiene and See also:relief of pauper See also:children; has the nomination of various subordinate officials; and is in See also:correspondence with the subordinate functionaries in his department, to whom he transmits the orders and instructions of the government. Although the management of See also:local affairs is in the hands of the prefect his See also:power with regard to these is checked by a deliberative body known as the general See also:council (conseil general). This council, which consists for the most See also:part of business and professional men, is elected by universal See also:suffrage, each See also:canton in the department contributing one member. The general council controls the departmental administration of the prefect, and its decisions on points of local government are usually final. It assigns its See also:quota of taxes (contingent) to each See also:arrondissement, authorizes the See also:sale, See also:purchase or See also:exchange of departmental See also:property, superintends the management thereof, authorizes the construction of new roads, See also:railways or canals, and advises on matters of local See also:interest. Political questions are rigorously excluded from its deliberations.

The general council, when not sitting, is represented by a permanent delegation (See also:

commission departementale). As the prefect in the department, so the sub-prefect in the arrondissement, though with a more limited power, is the representative of the central authority. He is assisted, and in some degree controlled, in his See also:work by the See also:district council (conseil d'arrondissement), to which each canton sends a member, chosen by universal suffrage. As the arrondissement has neither property nor See also:budget, the See also:principal business of the council is to allot to each See also:commune its See also:share of the See also:direct taxes imposed on the arrondissement by the general council. The canton is purely an administrative See also:division, containingy on an See also:average, about twelve communes, though some exceptional communes are big enough to contain more than one canton. It is the seat of a See also:justice of the See also:peace, and is the electoral unit for the general council and the district council. The communes, varying greatly in See also:area and See also:population, are the 'administrative See also:units in France. The See also:chief See also:magistrate of the commune is the See also:mayor (maire), who is (I) the agent of the central government and charged as such with the local promulgation and execution of the general laws and decrees of the See also:country; (2) the executive head of the See also:municipality, in which capacity he supervises the See also:police, the See also:revenue and public See also:works of the commune, and acts as the representative of the See also:corporation in general. He also acts as registrar of births, deaths and marriages, and officiates at See also:civil marriages. Mayors are usually assisted by deputies (adjoints). In a commune of 2500 inhabitants or less there is one See also:deputy; in more populous communes there may be more, but in no See also:case must the number exceed twelve, except at See also:Lyons, where as many as seventeen are allowed. Both mayors and deputy mayors are elected by and from among members of the municipal council for four years.

This body consists, according to the population of the commune, of from to to 36 members, elected for four years on the principle of the scrutin de liste by Frenchmen who have reached the See also:

age of twenty-one years and have a six months' See also:residence qualification. The local affairs of the commune are decided by the municipal council, and its decisions become operative after the expiration of a See also:month, See also:save in matters which involve interests transcending those of the commune. In such cases the prefect must approve them, and in some cases the See also:sanction of the general council or even ratification by the president is necessary. The council also chooses communal delegates to elect senators; and draws up the See also:list of repartiteurs, whose See also:function is to See also:settle how the commune's share of direct taxes shall be allotted among the taxpayers. The sub-prefect then selects from this list ten of whom he approves for the See also:post. The meetings of the council are open to the public. Justice. The See also:ordinary judicial system of France comprises two classes of courts: (I) civil and criminal, (2) See also:special, including courts dealing only with purely commercial cases; in addition there are the administrative courts, including bodies, the Conseil d'Etat and the Conseils de Prefecture, which See also:deal, in their judicial capacity, with cases coming under the See also:droit administratif. Mention may also be made of the Tribunal See also:des Conflits, a special See also:court whose function it is to decide which is the competent tribunal when an administration and a judicial court both claim or refuse to deal with a given case. Taking the first class of courts, which have both civil and criminal jurisdiction, the lowest tribunal in the system is that of the See also:juge de paix. In each canton is a juge de paix, who in his capacity as a civil See also:judge takes See also:cognizance, without See also:appeal, of disputes where the amount sought to be recovered does not exceed £I2 in value. Where the amount exceeds £I2 but not £24 an appeal lies from his decision to the court of first instance.

In some particular cases where special promptitude or local knowledge is necessary, as disputes between hotelkeepers and travellers, and the like, he has jurisdiction (subject to appeal to the court of first instance) up to £6o. He has also a criminal jurisdiction in contraventions, i.e. breaches of See also:

law punishable by a See also:fine not exceeding I 2S. or by imprisonment not exceeding five days. If the See also:sentence be one of imprisonment or the fine exceeds 4s., appeal lies to the court of first instance. It is an important function of the juge de paix to endeavour to reconcile disputants who come before him, and no suit can be brought before the court of first instance until he has endeavoured without success to bring the parties to an agreement. Tribunaux de premiere instance, also called tribunaux d'arrondissement, of which there is one in every arrondissement (with few exceptions), besides serving as courts of appeal from the juges de paix have an See also:original jurisdiction in matters civil and criminal. The court consists of a president, one or more See also:vice-presidents and a variable number of See also:judges. A procureur, or public prosecutor, is also attached to each court. In civil matters the tribunal takes cognizance of actions See also:relating to See also:personal property to the value of £6o, and actions relating to See also:land to the value of 6o fr. (£2: 8s.) per annum. When it deals with matters involving larger sums an appeal lies to the courts of appeal. In penal cases its jurisdiction extends to all offences of the class known as Mils—offences punishable by a more serious See also:penalty than the " contraventions " dealt with by the juge de paix, but not entailing such heavy penalties as the See also:code applies to crimes, with which the See also:assize courts (see below) deal. When sitting in its capacity as a criminal court it is known as the tribunal correctionnel.

Its judgments are in-variably subject in these matters to appeal before the court of appeal. There are twenty-six courts of appeal (See also:

tours d'Appel), to each of which are attached from one to five departments. Cours d'Appel. Departments depending on them.

End of Article: CORSE

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