France: Patterns of Argumentation in Constitutional Council Opinions

The present report examines the argumentative practices of the French Constitutional Council. It demonstrates that the evolution of constitutional discourse in France, as reflected in Constitutional Council opinions, parallels to a large extent the institutional development of constitutional adjudication. While retaining many of the idiosyncrasies that identify them with the French legal and political culture, both the institutional configuration of judicial review and constitutional reasoning have moved closer to what is increasingly seen as the European norm.