The principle of effective legal protection in French administrative law

The principle of the rule of law, which subjects the government to the law ‘is intended to protect individuals against arbitrary governmental acts by constraints of substantive law, as well as by the introduction of regulated procedures’. The term ‘effective legal protection’ is part of ‘Eurospeak’ and its inherent rights are explicitly recognised in European administrative law. The reason for this is that in the French approach, law is seen as an objective order aiming at effective administration. French administrative law is thus essentially based on case law which creates some problems for accessibility to the law. The constitutional court was created by the 4 October 1958 Constitution to ensure the smooth functioning of the streamlined parliamentary system, keeping the legislature in its own jurisdiction. The Constitution of 1958 contains some basic principles like the equality before the law, and states that the civil courts are guardians of individual liberty.