- Loi n°55-385 from 1955
- Wikipedia / Etat d'urgence en France (general structure)
State of emergency can only be declared on part or the totality of the Republic's territory in the following circumstances:
- imminent peril resulting from grave disturbances to public order, or
- events presenting, by their nature or gravity, the character of public calamity
State of emergency is declared by decree of the cabinet of ministers.
It can only be extended beyond 12 days by passing a law.
The law authorizing the extension of the state of emergency fixes its definitive duration.
Example: Algeria, 6 months (now revoked)
If the government resigns, or if the National Assembly is dissolved, the law authorizing the extension is void 15 days after this event.
- Prefects may set up curfews to prohibit the movement of people or vehicles in specific places and times fixed by decree
- Prefects may establish "secure zones / protected zones, where the stay of persons is regulated,"
- Prohibit "any person seeking to hinder, in any manner whatsoever, the actions of the government" from staying in part or the totality of the department
Minister of the Interior may house arrest or restrict to a certain city anyone "whose actions may be seen as harmful to public safety and order"
House arrest must allow those concerned to live in a city or immediately near a city.
In no case may house arrest have for effect the creation of detention camps for the persons mentioned earlier.
The administrative authority shall take all necessary measure to ensure the livelihood of the people under house arrest during the state of emergency.
Minister of the Interior or the prefects may "order the temporary closure of theaters, pubs and meeting places" and "meetings of nature to cause or maintain disorder"
Minister of the Interior may "order the return of first, fourth and fifth-class weapons." (see Annex 1)
Fifth-class weapons will be exchanged for a receipt, and every disposition will be taken so that they may be given back to their owners in the state they were surrendered in.
By express provision, the Minister of the Interior and the prefects may:
- order searches at home "day and night"
- "take all measures to ensure control of the press and radio."
The searches can be done without the supervision of a judge.
Military jurisdiction, via an accompanying decree, can "assign to themselves crimes and offenses related to them".
This priority ends when the state of emergency ceases, but the cases they claimed remains theirs afterwards.
Refusal to comply may be punishable either by imprisonment of up to two months, a 3750€ fine, or both.
Anyone targeted by measures cited in articles 5 & 6 of law n°55-385 (defining the state of emergency) can ask for the measure to be reversed. Their request is submitted to a consultative commission containing delegates from the designated department council.
The composition, choosing mode, and governing rules of the commission shall be fixed by a decree in State Council.
The same persons may submit a recourse for abuse of power to the relevant administrative court. That court will have to settle within the month the recourse has been submitted. In case of appeal, the decision of the State Council shall intervene in the three months of the appeal.
Should the jurisdictions mentioned above fail to rule within the deadlines set by the previous paragraph, execution of the measures taken in application of arts. 5 or 6 shall cease.
Since 1955 a state of emergency has been decreed six times:
- In 1955 in Algeria due to independentist unrest
- In 1958 due to the uprising in Algeria
- In 1961 after the Generals' putsch (invocation of article 16 from April 23 to September 29, 1961
- In 1984 in New Caledonia due to independentist troubles
- During the 2005 civil unrest in France President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency on November 8, 2005. It was extended for three months on November 16 by the Parliament, which was dominated by the UMP majority. On December 10 France's highest administrative body, the Council of State, ruled that the three-month state of emergency decreed to guarantee calm following unrest was legal. It rejected a complaint from 74 law professors and the Green party, declaring that the conditions that led to the unrest (which began on October 27), the rapid spread of violence, and the possibility that it could recur justified the state of emergency. The complaint challenged the state of emergency's necessity and said it compromised fundamental liberties.
- In 2015, following a series of shootings and explosions.
Source: Wikipedia / State of Emergency: France
- 1st category: Semi-automatic handguns with a caliber greater than 7.65 mm, semi-automatic rifles or repeating guns ? designed for military use.
- 4th category: handguns not included in the first category, some long guns, smooth-bore rifles and pump shotguns
- 5th category: other long guns that aren't in the fourth category like smooth-bore hunting rifles or shotguns with rifled barrels.
Source: Arme: Catégories d'usage + comment by @SeanJA
In place of the confusing mass of legislation that preceded it, the Press Law established a number of basic principles. Publishing was liberalised, with the law requiring only that publishers present their names to the authorities and deposit two copies of every work.
The authorities were denied the power to suppress newspapers and the offence of délits d'opinion (crimes of opinion, or types of prohibited speech) was abolished. This had previously enabled prosecutions of critics of the government, monarchy and church, or of those who argued for controversial ideas on property rights.
The scope of libel was severely reduced, with the criteria for defamation being much more tightly defined. A limited number of "press offences" was retained, including outraging public morals, and insulting high-ranking public officials including the President of the Republic, heads of foreign states and ambassadors. The law also provided a right of reply for persons to respond to articles in which they were featured.
In addition, the law regulates advertising and permits property owners to forbid the posting of advertisements on their properties. References to the law are frequently seen on French walls where signs proclaim "Defense d'afficher - loi du 29 Juillet 1881" ("posters forbidden - law of 29 July 1881").
Source: Wikipedia / Law on the Freedom of the Press of 29 July 1881