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European integration and legal culture: indirect sex discrimination in the French legal system*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Chloe J Wallace*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine whether legal culture has an influence on the implementation of EC law in member states by means of one case study; the failure of the French legal community to recognise and apply a prohibition against indirect as well as direct discrimination, which is well established in EC legislation and case law. It is suggested that legal cultural factors may have some role to play. The focus of French legal culture on the importance of legal certainty has contributed to an emphasis on a formal concept of equality within the law, to which the concept of indirect discrimination is not suited. The paradoxical role of the French judge, who is given very little power in theory and who is therefore able to take the inevitable policy decisions behind the cloak of judicial anonymity, means that she is able to avoid the obligation placed on her by EC law to implement a prohibition on indirect sex discrimination.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 1999

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Maria Drakopoulou, Susan Millns and Geoffrey Samuel for their helpful comments throughout the writing of this paper, as well as the readers for Legal Studies.

References

1. See eg R David ‘The Methods of Unification’ (1968) 10 AJCL 13; O Kahn-Freund ‘Common Law and Civil Law – Imaginary and Real Obstacles to Assimilation’ in New Perspectives for a Common Law of Europe M Cappelletti (ed) (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1978) p 137; C Mouly ‘Le droit peut-il favouriser I'intégration européene?’ (1985) Revue Internationale de Droit Comparé 895.

2. The study of legal culture has become more prominent recently. As well as the works referred to below, D Nelken (ed) Comparing Legal Cultures (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1997) constitutes a significant recent contribution to the field.

3. P Legrand ‘European Legal Systems are Not Converging’ (1995) 45 ICLQ 52; ‘Against a European Civil Code’ (1997) 60 MLR 44.

4. Treaty of Rome, art 119.

5. Defrenne v Sabena Case 43/76 (1976) ECR 455 at 472.

6. Defrenne v Sabena (No 2) Case 149/77 (1978) ECR 1365 at 1378. See also C Docksey ‘The Principle of Equality Between Men and Women as a Fundamental Right under Community Law’ (1991) 20 ILJ 258.

7. See eg R David and J Brierley Major Legal Systems in the World Today (London: Stevens, 1978); K Zweigert and H Kotz An Introduction to Comparative Law (trans T Weir) (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998).

8. See F Wieacker ‘Foundations of European Legal Culture’ (trans Bodenheimer) (1990) 38 AJCL 1; T Sawer ‘The Western Conception of Law’ in David, R. (ed) International Encyclopaedia of Comparative Law (Tubingen: Mohr, 1971) vol 2 Google Scholar, ch 1.

9. V Gessner ‘Global Legal Interaction and Legal Cultures’ (1994) 7 RJ 132.

10. For an indication of the complexity of the question, see D Nelken ‘Disclosing/Invoking Legal Culture: an introduction’ (1995) 5 Social and Legal Studies 435: and generally Nelken (ed), above n 2.

11. Gessner, above n 9, p 134.

12. C Geertz ‘Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture’ in The Interpretation of Cultures (London: Fontana, 1993).

13. Legrand (1995), above n 3, p 56.

14. S Fish ‘Working on the Chain Gang: Interpretation in the Law and in Literary Theory’ in W T J Mitchell (ed) The Politics of Interpretation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982).

15. L Friedman The Legal System: A Social Science Perspective (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1975); ‘Is there a Modem Legal Culture’ (1994) 7 RJ 117.

16. J Bell ‘The Acceptability of Legal Arguments’ in N MacCormick and P Birks (eds) The Legal Mind (Oxford: Clarendon, 1986) pp 53–55.

17. E Wolf Europe and the People without History (Berkley: University of California Press, 1982).

18. H J Berman Law and Revolution: the Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1983).

19. A comparative study considering the different problems arising in different member states would also be useful; however, that is not the focus of this piece.

20. Criminal Proceedings against Alfred Stoekel Case 345/89 (1991) ECR 1–404; Ministàre Public et Direction du travail et de l'emploi v Lévy Case 158/91 (1993) ECR 1-4287. For discussion of these cases, see C Kilpatrick ‘Production and Circulation of EC Night Work Jurisprudence’ (1996) 25 1LJ 169.

21. Commission v French Republic Case C-197/96 (1997) ECR-1 1489.

22. Commission v French Republic (No 1) Case 312/86 (1988) ECR 6315.

23. Once the Treaty of Amsterdam is in force, this article, with some modifications, will become art 141.

24. Directive 75/117 on the approximation of laws of member states relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women.

25. Directive 76/207 on the implementation of the principle of treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions.

26. Jenkins v Kingsgate (Clothing Productions) Ltd Case 96/80 (1981) ECR 911; Bilka-Kaufhaus v Weber von Hartz Case 170/84 (1986) ECR 1607.

27. Council Directive 97/80.

28. See J Carbonnier Droit Civil: Introduction (Paris: PUF, 1990) at pp 259–268.

29. See UDS v Conforama Case C-312/89 (1991) ECR 1997.

30. Cour de Cassation, Criminal Chamber, 10 January 1995 Baggio and Cuny; Bull Crim 1995 No 9.

31. Cour de Cassation, Criminal Chamber 27 June 1995 Mme Marrie and Sauty JCP édE 1996 767.

32. Marrie, above, n 31. All translations are my own.

33. See the Cufé Vabre case (1975) 2 CMLR 336.

34. Marrie, above n 31.

35. P Martin ‘Droit social et discriminations sexuelles: ag propos des discriminations generées par la loi’ (1996) Droit social 562.

36. Martin, n 35 above. See the judgment of the ECJ in Nolte v Landesversicherunsanstalt Hannover Case C-3 17/93 (1995) ECR 1-4625, where the court held that measures could be objectively justified on social policy grounds, and that member states have a broad discretion in choosing measures to fulfil their social policy aims.

37. See Martin, above n 35.

38. Cour de Cassation, Social Chamber, 30 March 1994 CNAV c/ Duchemin Bull Civ 1994 no 117.

39. (1995) Droit social 1036.

40. Cour de Cassation, Social Chamber 28 March 1995 CNAV c/ Thibault reported in (1995) Droit social 1036.

41. Case C-136/95, judgment of 30 April 1998.

42. In her note on the Thibault decision, above n 40.

43. See Dekker v Stichting Vorminscentrum voor Jong Volwassenen Case 177/99 (1990) ECR 3941; Webb v EMO Air Cargo Case C-32/93 (1994) ECR 1-3567.

44. Above n 41.

45. Y Robert, JCP édE 1996 II 767 – case note.

46. A Garapon and D Salas La République Pénalisée (Paris: Hachette, 1996), in particular ch 2 ‘Le Nouvel Age des Responsabilités’.

47. See M Lasser ‘Judicial (Self-) Portraits: Judicial Discourse in the French Legal System’ (1995) 104 YLJ 1325; M Lasser “‘ Lit Theory” Put to the Test: a Comparative Literary Analysis of American Judicial Tests and French Judicial Discourse’ (1998) 111 Harv LR 689.

48. J P Dawson The Oracles of the Law (Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 1978).

49. See J-L Goutal ‘Characteristics of Judicial Style in France, Britain and the USA’ (1976) 24 AJCL 43.

50. Lasser (1995). above n 47. p 1407.

51. Article L. 140-2 Code du Travail.

52. Law of 13 July 1983, now arts L 123-1 – L 123-7 Code du Travail.

53. A Mazur ‘Agendas and Egalité Professionelle: Symbolic Policy at Work in France’ in E Meehan and S Sevenhuijsen (eds) Equality, Politics and Gender (London: Sage, 1991).

54. Above n 53.

55. Above n 52.

56. An example of this can be seen in Le Monde in November 1997, where it was reported that the Jospin government had not yet appointed anyone to be responsible for women's rights issues, making France the only European country not to have such an appointment. Perhaps significant is the assertion that many people who were offered the job did not want it, suggesting a lack of perception of the importance of such issues. (Le Monde 5 November 1997, p 11).

57. Article L 123-4 Code du Travail.

58. See eg A Lyon-Caen ‘L’égalité et la loi en droit du travail (1990) Droit social 68; A Supiot ‘Principe d’égalité et limites du droit du travail (1992) Droit social 382; P Martin, above n 35.

59. Decision of 16 July 1971: for discussion, see A Stone The Birth of Judicial Politics in France (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

60. See in particular the decisions of 14 January 1983 (82-153 DC Rec 35) and of 19 September 1984 (84-179 DC Rec 73). Both these decisions are of interest in the present context as they concern legislation regulating admission to and terms and conditions of public employment. Both upheld the formal perception of equality.

61. See J Bell ‘Equality in the Case-Law of the Conseil Constitutionnel’ (1987) PL 426.

62. Decision of 18 November 1982. 82-146 DC. AJDA 1983, 128.

63. D Loschak Les hommes politiques, les ‘sages’ (?) et les femmes (1983) Droit social 13.

64. It can be noted that this approach to equality, as well as having implications for the concept of indirect discrimination, is likely to come into conflict with the recent support given by both the Commission and the Court of Justice to the idea of positive discrimination; see Marschall v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Case C-409195 (1998) IRLR 39 and the Commission communication on the interpretation of Kalanke v Frei-und Hansestadt Bremen Case C-450/93 (1995) ECR-1 305 1. Positive action in some forms has also been approved at Treaty level; para 4 of the new art 141 (formerly art 119) of the Treaty, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam, reads: ‘With a view to ensuring full equality in practice between men and women in working life, the principle of equal treatment shall not prevent any member state from maintaining or adopting measures providing for specific advantages in order to make it easier for the under-represented sex to pursue a vocational activity or to prevent or compensate for disadvantages in professional careers.’

65. J H Merryman The Civil Law Tradition (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969).

66. P Roubier ‘L'ordre juridique et la theorie des sources du droit’ in Le droit privé franclais au milieu du XXe siecle: études offertes à Georges Ripert (1950).

67. J Rivero ‘Le juge administratif franclais: un juge qui gouverne?’ (1951) Dalloz Chronique 169.

68. ‘Discours préliminaire prononcé lors de la présentation du projet de la commission du gouvernement’ in A Fenet Recueil Complet des Travaux Préparatoires du Code Civil (Osnabrück: Zeller, 1968).

69. For evidence of this argument, see P Malaurie ‘Rapport Francais – Droit Civil et Rural’ (1980) 31 Travaux de l'Association Henri Capitant 81.

70. A Garapon ‘French Legal Culture and the Shock of “Globalisation”’ (1995) 4 Social and Legal Studies 493.

71. Lasser (1995), above n 47.

72. See University of Manchester v Jones (1993) ICR 474.

73. See Home Office v Holmes (1984) ICR 678.

74. Meade-Hill v British Council (1995) ICR 847.

75. R v Secretary of State for Employment, ex p Seymour Smith Case C-167197 (1997) ICR 371, Proceedings of the Court of Justice no 4/99.

76. Above n 70.

77. Trans Nugent (New York: Hafner, 1949), at p 152.

78. Rivero, above n 67.

79. For more details on this historical background, see Dawson, above n 48; and T Sauvel ‘Histoire du jugement motivé’ (1955) Revue du Droit Public 5.

80. See R J Cummins ‘The General Principles of Law, Separation of Powers and Theories of Judicial Decision in France’ (1986) ICLQ 594.

81. M H Davis ‘A Government of Judges: An Historical Re-View’ (1987) 35 AJCL 559.

82. See Goutal, above n 49.

83. Above n 48.

84. Cour de Cassation, Social Chamber, 8 October 1996, decision no 3578 Renault SA cl Chevalier et autres.

85. It would, of course, be useful to look at the discussion documents which were used in the judicial decision-making process, such as the report of the juge-rapporteur. However, as Lasser has pointed out, these reports are rarely published and remarkably inaccessible to the researcher, and none were available in this instance.

86. Articles L 123-1 and L 140-2 Code du travail.

87. See s V of the Code du Travail, which contains a number of provisions for the protection of mothers, not all of which are related to the physical needs of pregnancy and childbirth. Most of this legislation was introduced before the 1983 legislation, and has not been modified in order to comply with the principle of égalité professionelle. In addition, art 19 of the 1983 legislation, which allowed for the maintenance of special rights for mothers in pre-existing collective agreements, was found by the ECJ, in Commission v French Republic (No 1) Case 312/86 (1988) ECR 63 15, to be contrary to the equal treatment directive, because such special rights were contrary to the principle of equal treatment.

88. Von Colson and Kamann v Land Nordrhein- Westfalen Case 14/83 (1984) ECR 1891; Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA Case C-106/89 (1990) ECR 1-4135.

89. Above nn 38 and 40, and associated text.

90. (1998), above n 47.

91. The other two were the two night-work cases; above n 20.

92. Above n 42.