Consulter la lettre.

Sur l'affaire Sirven.

Sur la présentation de l'ouvrage, compilant les différentes correspondances adressées par Voltaire et son Avis au public sur les parricides.

J’ai dévoré, mon cher ami, le nouveau mémoire de M. de Beaumont sur l’innocence des Calas ; je l’ai admiré, j’ai répandu des larmes, mais il ne m’a rien appris ; il y a longtemps que j’étais convaincu ; et j’avais eu le bonheur de fournir les premières preuves.

Vous voulez savoir comment cette réclamation de toute l’Europe contre le meurtre juridique du malheureux Calas, roué à Toulouse, a pu venir d’un petit coin de terre ignoré, entre les Alpes et le Mont-Jura, à cent lieues du théâtre où se passa cette scène épouvantable.

Rien ne fera peut-être mieux voir la chaîne insensible qui lie tous les évènements de ce malheureux monde.

Sur la fin de mars 1762, un voyageur qui avait passé par le Languedoc, et qui vint dans ma retraite à deux lieues de Genève, m’apprit le supplice de Calas, et m’assura qu’il était innocent. Je lui répondis que son crime n’était pas vraisemblable, mais qu’il était moins vraisemblable encore que des juges eussent, sans aucun intérêt, fait périr un innocent par le supplice de la roue.

J’appris le lendemain qu’un des enfants de ce malheureux père s’était réfugié en Suisse, assez près de ma chaumière. Sa fuite me fit présumer que la famille était coupable. Cependant je fis réflexion que le père avait été condamné au supplice comme ayant seul assassiné son fils pour la religion, et que ce père était mort âgé de soixante-neuf ans. Je ne me souviens pas d’avoir jamais lu qu’aucun vieillard eût été possédé d’un si horrible fanatisme. J’avais toujours remarqué que cette rage n’attaquait d’ordinaire que la jeunesse, dont l’imagination ardente, tumultueuse, et faible s’enflamme par la superstition. Les fanatiques des Cévennes étaient des fous de vingt à trente ans, stylés à prophétiser dès l’enfance. Presque tous les convulsionnaires que j’avais vu à Paris en très grand nombre étaient de petites filles et de jeunes garçons. Les vieillards chez les moines sont moins emportés, et moins susceptibles des fureurs du zèle, que ceux qui sortent du noviciat. Les fameux assassins, armés par le fanatisme, ont tous été de jeunes gens, de même que tous ceux qui ont prétendu être possédés ; jamais on n’a vu exorciser un vieillard. Cette idée me fit douter d’un crime qui d’ailleurs n’est guère dans la nature. J’en ignorais les circonstances.

Je fis venir le jeune Calas chez moi. Je m’attendais à voir un énergumène tel que son pays en a produit quelquefois. Je vis un enfant simple, ingénu, de la physionomie la plus douce et la plus intéressante, et qui, en me parlant, faisait des efforts inutiles pour retenir ses larmes. Il me dit qu’il était à Nîmes en apprentissage chez un fabricant, lorsque la voix publique lui avait appris qu’on allait condamner dans Toulouse toute sa famille au supplice, que presque tout le Languedoc la croyait coupable, et que, pour se dérober à des opprobres si affreux, il était venu se cacher en Suisse.

Je lui demandai si son père et sa mère étaient d’un caractère violent : il me dit qu’ils n’avaient jamais battu un seul de leurs enfants, et qu’il n’y avait point de parents plus indulgents et plus tendres.

J’avoue qu’il ne m’en fallut pas davantage pour présumer fortement l’innocence de la famille. Je pris de nouvelles informations de deux négociants de Genève, d’une probité reconnue, qui avaient logé à Toulouse chez Calas. Ils me confirmèrent dans mon opinion. Loin de croire la famille Calas fanatique et parricide, je crus voir que c’étaient des fanatiques qui l’avaient accusée et perdue. Je savais depuis longtemps de quoi l’esprit de parti et la calomnie sont capables.

Mais quel fut mon étonnement lorsque, ayant écrit en Languedoc sur cette étrange aventure, catholiques et protestants me répondirent qu’il ne fallait pas douter du crime des Calas ! Je ne me rebutai point. Je pris la liberté d’écrire à ceux mêmes qui avaient gouverné la province, à des commandants de provinces voisines, à des ministres d’État ; tous me conseillèrent unanimement de ne me point mêler d’une si mauvaise affaire ; tout le monde me condamna, et je persistai : voici le parti que je pris.

La veuve de Calas, à qui, pour comble de malheur et d’outrage, on avait enlevé ses filles, était retirée dans une solitude où elle se nourrissait de ses larmes, et où elle attendait la mort. Je ne m’informai point si elle était attachée ou non à la religion protestante, mais seulement si elle croyait un Dieu rémunérateur de la vertu et vengeur des crimes. Je lui fis demander si elle signerait au nom de ce Dieu que son mari était mort innocent ; elle n’hésita pas. Je n’hésitai pas non plus. Je priai M. Mariette de prendre au conseil du roi sa défense. Il fallait tirer madame Calas de sa retraite, et lui faire entreprendre le voyage de Paris.

On vit alors que s’il y a de grands crimes sur la terre, il y a autant de vertus ; et que si la superstition produit d’horribles malheurs, la philosophie les répare.

Une dame dont la générosité égale la haute naissance, qui était alors à Genève pour faire inoculer ses filles, fut la première qui secourut cette famille infortunée. Des Français retirés en ce pays la secondèrent ; des Anglais qui voyageaient se signalèrent ; et, comme dit M. de Beaumont, il y eut un combat de générosité entre ces deux nations, à qui secourrait le mieux la vertu si cruellement opprimée.

Le reste, qui le sait mieux que vous ? Qui a servi l’innocence avec un zèle plus constant et plus intrépide ? Combien n’avez-vous pas encouragé la voix des orateurs, qui a été entendue de toute la France et de l’Europe attentive ? Nous avons vu renouveler les temps où Cicéron justifiait, devant une assemblée de législateurs, Amerinus accusé de parricide. Quelques personnes, qu’on appelle dévotes, se sont élevées contre les Calas ; mais, pour la première fois depuis l’établissement du fanatisme, la voix des sages les a fait taire.

La raison remporte donc de grandes victoires parmi nous ! Mais croiriez-vous, mon cher ami que la famille des Calas, si bien secourue, si bien vengée, n’était pas la seule alors que la religion accusât d’un parricide, n’était pas la seule immolée aux fureurs du préjugé ? Il y en a une plus malheureuse encore, parce qu’éprouvant les mêmes horreurs, elle n’a pas eu les mêmes consolations ; elle n’a point trouvé des Mariette, des Beaumont, et des Loiseau.

Il semble qu’il y ait dans le Languedoc une furie infernale amenée autrefois par les inquisiteurs à la suite de Simon de Montfort, et que depuis ce temps elle secoue quelquefois son flambeau.

Un feudiste de Castres, nommé Sirven, avait trois filles. Comme la religion de cette famille est la prétendue réformée, on enlève, entre les bras de sa femme, la plus jeune de leurs filles. On la met dans un couvent, on la fouette pour lui mieux apprendre son catéchisme ; elle devient folle, elle va se jeter dans un puits, à une lieue de la maison de son père. Aussitôt les zélés ne doutent pas que le père, la mère et les sœurs n’aient noyé cette enfant. Il passait pour constant, chez les catholiques de la province, qu’un des points capitaux de la religion protestante est que les pères et mères sont tenus de pendre, d’égorger ou de noyer tous leurs enfants qu’ils soupçonneront avoir quelque penchant pour la religion romaine. C’était précisément le temps où les Calas étaient aux fers, et où l’on dressait leur échafaud.

L’aventure de la fille noyée parvient incontinent à Toulouse. Voilà un nouvel exemple, s’écrie-t-on, d’un père et d’une mère parricides. La fureur publique s’en augmente ; on roue Calas, et on décrète Sirven, sa femme et ses filles. Sirven épouvanté n’a que le temps de fuir avec toute sa famille malade. Ils marchent à pied, dénués de tout secours, à travers des montagnes escarpées, alors couvertes de neige. Une de ses filles accouche parmi les glaçons ; et, mourante, elle emporte son enfant mourant dans ses bras : ils prennent enfin leur chemin vers la Suisse.

Le même hasard qui m’amena les enfants de Calas veut encore que les Sirven s’adressent à moi. Figurez-vous, mon ami, quatre moutons que des bouchers accusent d’avoir mangé un agneau ; voilà ce que je vis. Il m’est impossible de vous peindre tant d’innocence et tant de malheurs. Que devais-je faire, et qu’eussiez-vous fait à ma place ? Faut-il s’en tenir à gémir sur la nature humaine ? Je prends la liberté d’écrire à monsieur le premier président de Languedoc, homme vertueux et sage ; mais il n’était point à Toulouse. Je fais présenter par un de vos amis un placet à monsieur le vice-chancelier. Pendant ce temps-là, on exécute vers Castres, en effigie, le père, la mère, les deux filles ; leur bien est confisqué, dévasté, il n’en reste plus rien.

Voilà toute une famille honnête, innocente, vertueuse, livrée à l’opprobre et à la mendicité chez les étrangers : ils trouvent de la pitié, sans doute ; mais qu’il est dur d’être jusqu’au tombeau un objet de pitié ! On me répond enfin qu’on pourra leur obtenir des lettres de grâce. Je crus d’abord que c’était de leurs juges qu’on me parlait, et que ces lettres étaient pour eux. Vous croyez bien que la famille aimerait mieux mendier son pain de porte en porte, et expirer de misère, que de demander une grâce qui supposerait un crime trop horrible pour être graciable ; mais aussi comment obtenir justice ? Comment s’aller remettre en prison dans sa patrie où la moitié du peuple dit encore que le meurtre de Calas était juste ? Ira-t-on une seconde fois demander une évocation au conseil ? Tentera-t-on d’émouvoir la pitié publique, que l’infortune des Calas a peut-être épuisée, et qui se lassera d’avoir des accusations de parricide à réfuter, des condamnés à réhabiliter, et à des juges à confondre ?

Ces deux évènements tragiques, arrivés coup sur coup, ne sont-ils pas, mon ami, des preuves de cette fatalité inévitable à laquelle notre misérable espèce est soumise ? Vérité terrible, tant enseignée dans Homère et dans Sophocle ; mais vérité utile, puisqu’elle nous apprend à nous résigner et à savoir souffrir.

Vous dirai-je que, tandis que le désastre étonnant des Calas et des Sirven affligeait ma sensibilité, un homme, dont vous devinerez l’état à ses discours, me reprocha l’intérêt que je prenais à deux familles qui m’étaient étrangères ? De quoi vous mêlez-vous ? me dit-il ; laissez les morts ensevelir leurs morts. Je lui répondis : J’ai trouvé dans mes déserts l’Israélite baigné dans son sang, souffrez que je répande un peu d’huile et de vin sur ses blessures : vous êtes lévite, laissez-moi être Samaritain.

Il est vrai que pour prix de mes peines on m’a bien traité en Samaritain ; on a fait un libelle diffamatoire sous le nom d’Instruction pastorale et de Mandement ; mais il faut l’oublier, c’est un jésuite qui l’a composé. Le malheureux ne savait pas alors que je donnais un asile à un jésuite. Pouvais-je mieux prouver que nous devons regarder nos ennemis comme nos frères.

Vos passions sont l’amour de la vérité, l’humanité, la haine de la calomnie. La conformité de nos caractères a produit notre amitié. J’ai passé ma vie à chercher, à publier cette vérité que j’aime. Quel autre des historiens modernes a défendu la mémoire d’un grand prince contre les impostures atroces de je ne sais quel écrivain qu’on peut appeler le calomniateur des rois, des ministres, et des grands capitaines, et qui cependant aujourd’hui ne peut trouver un lecteur ?

Je n’ai donc fait, dans les horribles désastres des Calas et des Sirven, que ce que font tous les hommes ; j’ai suivi mon penchant. Celui d’un philosophe n’est pas de plaindre les malheureux, c’est de les servir.

Je sais avec quelle fureur le fanatisme s’élève contre la philosophie. Elle a deux filles qu’il voudrait faire périr comme Calas, ce sont la Vérité et la Tolérance ; tandis que la philosophie ne veut que désarmer les enfants du fanatisme, le Mensonge et la Persécution.

Des gens qui ne raisonnent pas ont voulu décréditer ceux qui raisonnent : ils ont confondu le philosophe avec le sophiste ; ils se sont bien trompés. Le vrai philosophe peut quelquefois s’irriter contre la calomnie, qui le poursuit lui-même ; il peut couvrir d’un éternel mépris le vil mercenaire qui outrage deux fois par mois la raison, le bon goût, et la vertu : il peut même livrer, en passant, au ridicule ceux qui insultent à la littérature dans le sanctuaire où ils auraient dû l’honorer : mais il ne connaît ni les cabales, ni les sourdes pratiques, ni la vengeance. Il sait, comme le sage de Montbar, comme celui de Vore rendre la terre plus fertile, et ses habitants plus heureux. Le vrai philosophe défriche les champs incultes, augmente le nombre des charrues, et par conséquent des habitants ; occupe le pauvre et l’enrichit ; encourage les mariages, établit l’orphelin ; ne murmure point contre des impôts nécessaires, et met le cultivateur en état de les payer avec allégresse. Il n’attend rien des hommes, et il leur fait tout le bien dont il est capable. Il a l’hypocrite en horreur, mais il plaint le superstitieux ; enfin il sait être ami.

Je m’aperçois que je fais votre portrait, et qu’il n’y manquerait rien si vous étiez assez heureux pour habiter la campagne.

► Référence complète : O. Dufour, La justice au temps du terrorisme. De Charles à Samuel Paty, préface de Jean Reinhart, postface de François Martineau, LGDJ-Lextenso Paris, 2025, 383 p.

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►Les 7 procès relatés : 

• sept.-déc. 2020 : procès des attentats de janvier 2015 (Charlie Hebdo) : p.15 - 83
•  

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► Référence complète : S-M.. Cabon, "Théorie et pratique de la négociation dans la justice pénale", in M.-A. Frison-Roche & M. Boissavy (dir.), Compliance et Droits de la défense - Enquête interne, CIIP, CRPC, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", à paraître.

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📕consulter une présentation générale de l'ouvrage, Compliance et Droits de la défense - Enquête interne, CIIP, CRPC, dans lequel cet article est publié

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► Résumé de l'article (fait par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : L'auteure définit la technique de "négociation" comme celle par laquelle "chaque interlocuteur va tenter de rendre compatibles par un jeu de coopération et de concessions mutuelles", ce qui va donc être utilisé dans la justice pénale française non pas tant par attraction du modèle américain, mais pour tenter de résoudre les difficultés engendrées par le flux des contentieux, le procédé s'étant élargi aux contentieux répressif, notamment devant les autorités administratives de régulation. Le principe en est donc la coopération du délinquant.

L'auteur souligne les satisfactions "pratiques" revendiqués, puisque les cas sont résolus, les sanctions sont acceptées, et les inquiétudes "théoriques", puisque des principes fondamentaux semblent écartés, comme les droits de la défense, l'affirmation étant faite comme quoi les avantages pratiques et le fait que rien n'oblige les entreprises à accepter les CJIP et les CRPC justifient que l'on ne s'arrête pas à ces considérations "théoriques".

L'article est donc construit sur la confrontation de "l'Utile" et du "Juste", parce que c'est ainsi que le système est présenté, l'utilité et le consentement étant notamment mis en valeur dans les lignes directrices des autorités publiques.

Face à cela, l'auteur examine la façon dont les textes continuent, ou pas, de protéger la personne qui risque d'être in fine sanctionnée, notamment dans les enquêtes et investigations, le fait qu'elle consente à renoncer à cette protection, notamment qu'elle apporte elle-même les éléments probatoires de ce qui sera la base de sa déclaration de culpabilité tandis que l'Autorité publique ne renonce pas encore au même moment à la poursuite étant problématique au regard du "Juste".

La seconde partie de l'article est donc consacrée à "l'Utile contraint à être Juste". A ce titre, l'auteur pense que l'indépendance du ministère public devrait être plus forte, à l'image de ce qu'est le Parquet européen, et le contrôle du juge judiciaire plus profond car la procédure actuelle de validation des CJIP semble régie par le principe dispositif, principe qui ne sied pas à la justice pénale.

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Paradoxically, the notion of conflict of interest seems to be at the center of Economic Law only recently in Economic Law, in both Corporate and Public Law. This is due to the philosophy which animates these two branches of Law, very different for each, and which has changed in each.

In fact, and in the first place in Public Law, in the Continental legal systems and especially in French legal tradition, on the side of the State, the one who serves it, by a sort of natural effect,, makes the general interest incarnated by the State pass before its personal interest. There is an opposition of interests, namely the personal interest of this public official who would like to work less and earn more, and the common interest of the population, who would like to pay less taxes and for example benefit trains that always arrive on time and the general interest which would be for example the construction of a European rail network.

But this conflict would be resolved "naturally" because the public official, having "a sense of the general interest" and being animated by the "sense of public service", sacrifices himself to serve the general interes. He stays late at his office and gets the trains on time. This theory of public service was the inheritance of royalty, a system in which the King is at the service of the People, like the aristocracy is in the "service of the King." There could therefore be no conflict of interest, neither in the administration nor in the public enterprises, nor to observe, manage or dissolve. The question does not arise ...

Let us now take the side of the companies, seen by the Company Law. In the classical conception of corporate governance, corporate officers are necessarily shareholders of the company and the profits are mandatorily distributed among all partners: the partnership agreement is a "contract of common interest". Thus, the corporate officer works in the knowledge that the fruits of his efforts will come back to him through the profits he will receive as a partner. Whatever its egoism - and even the agent must be, this mechanism produces the satisfaction of all the other partners who mechanically will also receive the profits. Selfishness is indeed the motor of the system, as in the classical theory of Market and Competition. Thus, in the corporate mechanism, there is never a conflict of interest since the corporate officer is obligatorily associated: he will always work in the interest of the partners since in this he works for himself. As Company Law posits that the loss of the company will also be incurred and suffered by all partners, he will also avoid this prospect. Again, there is no need for any control. The question of a conflict of interest between the mandatary and those who conferred this function does not structurally arise...

These two representations both proved inaccurate. They were based on quite different philosophies - the public official being supposed to have exceeded his own interest, the corporate officer being supposed to serve the common interest or the social interest by concern for his own interest - but this was by  a unique reasoning that these two representations were defeated.

Let us take the first on Public Law: the "sense of the State" is not so common in the administration and the public enterprises, that the people who work there sacrifice themselves for the social group. They are human beings like the others. Researchers in economics and finance, through this elementary reflection of suspicion, have shattered these political and legal representations. In particular, it has been observed that the institutional lifestyle of public enterprises, very close to the government and their leaders, is often not very justified, whereas it is paid by the taxpayer, that is, by the social group which they claimed to serve. Europe, by affirming in the Treaty of Rome the principle of "neutrality of the capital of enterprises", that is to say, indifference to the fact that the enterprise has as its shareholder a private person or a public person, validated this absence of exceeding of his particular interest by the servant of the State, become simple economic agent. This made it possible to reach the conclusion made for Company Law.

Disillusionment was of the same magnitude. It has been observed that the corporate officer, ordinary human being, is not devoted to the company and does not have the only benefit of the profits he will later receive as a partner. He sometimes gets very little, so he can receive very many advantages (financial, pecuniary or in kind, direct or indirect). The other shareholders see their profits decrease accordingly. They are thus in a conflict of interest. Moreover, the corporate officer was elected by the shareholders' meeting, that is to say, in practice, the majority shareholder or the "controlling" shareholder (controlling shareholder) and not by all. He may not even be associated (but a "senior officer").

The very fact that the situation is no longer qualified by lawyers, through the qualifications of classical Company Law, still borrowing from the Civil Contract Law, the qualifications coming more from financial theories, borrowing from the theory of the agency, adically changed the perspective. The assumptions have been reversed: by the same "nature effect", the conflict of interest has been disclosed as structurally existing between the manager and the minority shareholder. Since the minority shareholder does not have the de facto power to dismiss the corporate officer since he does not have the majority of the voting rights, the question does not even arise whether the manager has or has not a corporate status: the minority shareholder has only the power to sell his securities, if the management of the manager is unfavorable (right of exit) or the power to say, protest and make known. This presupposes that he is informed, which will put at the center of a new Company Law information, even transparency.

Thus, this conflict of interests finds a solution in the actual transfer of securities, beyond the legal principle of negotiability. For this reason, if the company is listed, the conflict of interest is translated dialectically into a relationship between the corporate officer and the financial market which, by its liquidity, allows the agent to be sanctioned, and also provides information, Financial market and the minority shareholder becoming identical. The manager could certainly have a "sense of social interest", a sort of equivalent of the state's sense for a civil servant, if he had an ethics, which would feed a self-regulation. Few people believe in the reality of this hypothesis. By pragmatism, it is more readily accepted that the manager will prefer his interest to that of the minority shareholder. Indeed, he can serve his personal interest rather than the interest for which a power has been given to him through the informational rent he has, and the asymmetry of information he enjoys. All the regulation will intervene to reduce this asymmetry of information and to equip the minority shareholder thanks to the regulator who defends the interests of the market against the corporate officers, if necessary through the criminal law. But the belief in managerial volunteerism has recently taken on a new dimension with corporate social responsability, the social responsibility of the company where managers express their concern for others.

The identification of conflicts of interests, their prevention and their management are transforming Financial Regulatory Law and then the Common Law of Regulation, because today it is no longer believed a priori that people exceed their personal interest to serve the interest of others. It is perhaps to regain trust and even sympathy that companies have invested in social responsibility. The latter is elaborated by rules which are at first very flexible but which can also express a concern for the general interest. In this, it can meet Compliance Law and express on behalf of the companies a concern for the general interest, if the companies provide proof of this concern.

To take an example of a conflict of interest that resulted in substantial legal changes, the potentially dangerous situation of credit rating agencies has been pointed out when they are both paid by banks, advising them and designing products, While being the source of the ratings, the main indices from which the investments are made. Banks being the first financial intermediaries, these conflicts of interest are therefore systematically dangerous. That is why in Europe ESMA exercises control over these rating agencies.

The identification of conflicts of interest, which most often involves changing the way we look at a situation - which seemed normal until the point of view changes - the moral and legal perspective being different, Trust one has in this person or another one modifying this look, is today what moves the most in Regulation Law.
This is true of Public and Corporate Law, which are extended by the Regulation Law, here itself transformed by Compliance Law, notably by the launchers of alerts. But this is also true that all political institutions and elected officials.

For a rule emerges: the more central the notion of conflict of interest becomes, the more it must be realized that Trust is no longer given a priori, either to a person, to a function, to a mechanism, to a system. Trust is no longer given only a posteriori in procedures that burden the action, where one must give to see continuously that one has deserved this trust.

► Full Reference: L. Aynès, "How International Arbitration can reinforce the Compliance Obligation", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, to be published

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Obligation, in which this article is published

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► Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC): The author takes as his starting point the observation that International Arbitration and Compliance are a natural fit, since they are both a manifestation of globalisation, expressing an overcoming of borders, with arbitration being able to take on the Compliance Monumental Goals, since it has engendered a substantially global arbitral order.

But the obstacle lies in the fact that the source of arbitration remains the contract, with the arbitrator exercising only a temporary jurisdiction whose mission is given by the contract. Yet the advent of the global arbitral order makes this possible, with the arbitrator drawing on norms that may include the Compliance monumental goals and corporate commitments. In so doing, the arbitrator becomes an indirect organ of this emerging compliance law.

The contribution then suggests a second development, which could make the arbitrator a direct organ of compliance. For this to happen, the arbitrator must not only compel the fulfillment of an obligation to act, as is already the case with provisional measures, but also have a broader conception of the conflict for which a solution is required, or even free himself somewhat from the contractual source that surrounds it. This may well be taking shape, mirroring the profound transformation of the judge's office.

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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The procedural guarantees enjoyed by a person whose situation may be affected by a forthcoming judgment are mainly the right of action, the rights of defense and the benefit of the adversarial principle.

The rights of the defense have constitutional value and constitute human rights, benefiting everyone, including legal persons. The mission of positive Law is to give effect to them in good time, that is to say from the moment of the investigation or custody, which is manifested for example by the right to the assistance of a lawyer or the right to remain silent or the right to lie. Thus the rights of the defense are not intended to help the manifestation of the truth, do not help the judge or the effectiveness of repression - which is what the principle of adversarial law does - they are pure rights, subjective for the benefit of people, including even especially people who may be perfectly guilty, and seriously guilty.

The rights of the defense are therefore an anthology of prerogatives which are offered to the person implicated or likely to be or likely to be affected. It does not matter if it possibly affects the efficiency. These are human rights. This is why their most natural holder is the person prosecuted in criminal proceedings or facing a system of repression. This is why the triggering of the power of a tribunal or a judge offers them in a consubstantial way to the one who is by this sole fact - and legitimately - threatened by this legitimate violence (one of the definitions of the State ).

The rights of the defense therefore begin even before the trial because the "useful time" begins from the investigation phase, from the searches, even from the controls, and continues on the occasion of appeals against the decision adversely affecting the decision. The legal action being a means of being a party, that is to say of making arguments in its favor, and therefore of defending its case, shows that the plaintiff in the proceedings also holds legal defense rights since he is not only plaintiff in the proceedings but he also plaintiff and defendant to the allegations which are exchanged during the procedure: he alleged to the allegation of his opponent is not correct.

They take many forms and do not need to be expressly provided for in texts, since they are principled and constitutionally benefit from a broad interpretation (ad favorem interpretation). This is the right to be a party (for example the right of intervention, the right of action - which some distinguish from the rights of the defense - the right to be questioned, such as the right to be brought into question (or examination), right to be assisted by a lawyer, right to remain silent, right not to incriminate oneself, right of access to the file, right to intervene in the debate (the rights of the defense thus crossing the adversarial principle), right to appeal, etc.

It is essential to qualify an organ as a tribunal because this triggers for the benefit of the person concerned the procedural guarantees, including the rights of the defense, which on the basis of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights man was made about the Regulators yet formally organized in Independent Administrative Authorities (AAI). This contributed to the general movement of jurisdictionalization of Regulation.

►Référence complète : Galli, M., Une justice pénale propre aux personnes morales : Réflexions sur la convention judiciaire d'intérêt public , Revue de Sciences Criminelle, 2018, pp. 359-385.

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► Référence complète : L. Grosclaude, "Financiarisation des professions libérales réglementées : vers un changement du paradigme",  JCP Entreprise, n°49, déc. 2023, étude 1355.

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🦉cet article est accessible aux personnes qui suivent les enseignements du professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, 2026, to be published

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📕In parallel, a book in French L'Obligation de compliance, is published in the collection "Régulations & Compliance" co-published by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Lefebvre-Dalloz. 

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📚This book is inserted in this series created by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche for developing Compliance Law.

 read the presentations of the other books of this Compliance Series:

• further books:

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Evidential System, 2027

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance and Contract, 2027

• previous books:

​🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed), 📘Compliance Juridictionnalisation, 2023

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed), 📘Compliance Monumental Goals, 2022

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Tools, 2021

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► go to the general presentation of this 📚Series ​Compliance & Regulation, conceived, founded et managed by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, co-published par the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant. 

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🧮the book follows the cycle of colloquia organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and its Universities partners.

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► general presentation of the book: Compliance is sometimes presented as something that cannot be avoided, which is tantamount to seeing it as the legal obligation par excellence, Criminal Law being its most appropriate mode of expression. However, this is not so evident. Moreover, it is becoming difficult to find a unity to the set of compliance tools, encompassing what refers to a moral representation of the world, or even to the cultures specific to each company, Compliance Law only having to produce incentives or translate this ethical movement. The obligation of compliance is therefore difficult to define.

This difficulty to define affecting the obligation of compliance reflects the uncertainty that still affects Compliance Law in which this obligation develops. Indeed, if we were to limit this branch of law to the obligation to "be conform" with the applicable regulations, the obligation would then be located more in these "regulations", the classical branches of Law which are Contract Law and Tort Law organising "Obligations" paradoxically remaining distant from it. In practice, however, it is on the one hand Liability actions that give life to legal requirements, while companies make themselves responsible through commitments, often unilateral, while contracts multiply, the articulation between legal requirements and corporate and contractual organisations ultimately creating a new way of "governing" not only companies but also what is external to them, so that the Monumental Goals, that Compliance Law substantially aims at, are achieved. 

The various Compliance Tools illustrate this spectrum of the Compliance Obligation which varies in its intensity and takes many forms, either as an extension of the classic legal instruments, as in the field of information, or in a more novel way through specific instruments, such as whistleblowing or vigilance. The contract, in that it is by nature an Ex-Ante instrument and not very constrained by borders, can then appear as a natural instrument in the compliance system, as is the Judge who is the guarantor of the proper execution of Contract and Tort laws. The relationship between companies, stakeholders and political authorities is thus renewed.

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🏗️general construction of the book

The book opens with a substantial Introduction, putting the different sort of obligations of compliance in legal categories for showing that companies must build structures of compliance (obligation of result) and act to contribute with states and stakeholders to reach Monumental Goals (obligation of means). 

The first part is devoted to the definition of the Compliance Obligation. 

The second part presents the articulation of Compliance obligation with the other branchs of Law, because the specific obligation is built by Compliance Law, as new substantial branch of Law but also by many other branchs of Law.

The third part develops the pratical means established to obtained the Compliance Obligation to be effective, efficace and efficient.

The fourth part takes the Obligation  of Vigilance as an illustration of all these considerations and the discussion about the future of this sparehead fo the Compliance Obligation . 

The fifth part refers to the place and the role of the judges, natural characters for any obligation. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ANCHORING THE SO DIVERSE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATIONS IN THEIR NATURE, REGIMES AND FORCE TO BRING OUT THE VERY UNITY OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION, MAKING IT COMPREHENSIBLE AND PRACTICABLE 

🔹 Compliance Obligation: building a compliance structure that produces credible results withe regard to the Monumentals Goals targeted by the Legislator, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

TITLE I.

IDENTIFYING THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

CHAPTER I: NATURE OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 Will, Heart and Calculation, the three marks surrounding the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 2 🔹 Debt, as the basis of the compliance obligation, by 🕴️Bruno Deffains

Section 3 🔹 Compliance Obligation and Human Rights, by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Racine

Section 4 🔹 Compliance Obligation and changes in Sovereignty and Citizenship, by 🕴️René Sève

Section 5 🔹 The definition of the Compliance Obligation in Cybersecurity, by 🕴️Michel Séjean

CHAPTER II: SPACES OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 Industrial Entities and Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Etienne Maclouf

Section 2 🔹 Compliance, Value Chains and Service Economy, by 🕴️Lucien Rapp

Section 3 🔹 Compliance and conflict of laws. International Law of Vigilance-Conformity, based on applications in Europe, by 🕴️Louis d'Avout 

TITLE II.

ARTICULATING THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION WITH OTHER BRANCHES OF LAW

Section 1 🔹 Tax Law and Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Daniel Gutmann

Section 2 🔹 General Procedural Law, prototype of the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 3 🔹 Corporate and Financial Markets Law facing the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Anne-Valérie Le Fur

Section 4 🔹 Transformation of Governance and Vigilance Obligation, by 🕴️Véronique Magnier

Section 5 🔹 The Relation between Tort Law and Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Jean-Sébastien Borghetti

Section 6 🔹 Environmental and Climate Compliance, by 🕴️Marta Torre-Schaub

Section 7 🔹 Competition Law and Compliance Law, by 🕴️Jean-Christophe Roda

Section 8 🔹 The Compliance Obligation in Global Law, by 🕴️Benoît Frydman & 🕴️Alice Briegleb

Section 9 🔹 Environmental an Climatic Dimensions of the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Marta Torre-Schaub

Section 10 🔹 Judge of Insolvency Law and Compliance Obligations, by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Barbièri

TITLE III.

COMPLIANCE: GIVE AND TAKE THE MEANS TO OBLIGE

CHAPTER I: COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION: THE CONVERGENCE OF SOURCES

Section 1 🔹 Compliance Obligation upon Obligation works, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 2 🔹 Conformity technologies to meet Compliance Law requirements. Some examples in Digital Law, by 🕴️Emmanuel Netter

Section 3 🔹 Legal Constraint and Company Strategies in Compliance matters, by 🕴️Jean-Philippe Denis & 🕴️Nathalie Fabbe-Coste

Section 4 🔹 Opposition and convergence of American and European legal systems in Compliance Rules and Systems, by 🕴️Raphaël Gauvain & 🕴️Blanche Balian

Section 5 🔹 In Compliance Law, the legal consequences for Entreprises of their Commitments and Undertakings, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

CHAPTER II: INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 How International Arbitration can reinforce the Compliance Obligation, by  🕴️Laurent Aynès

Section 2 🔹 Arbitration consideration of Compliance Obligation for a Sustainable Arbitration Place, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 3 🔹 The Arbitral Tribunal's Award in Kind, in support of the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Eduardo Silva Romero

Section 4 🔹 The use of International Arbitration to reinforce the Compliance Obligation: the example of the construction sector, by 🕴️Christophe Lapp 

Section 5 🔹 The Arbitrator, Judge, Supervisor, Support, by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Racine

TITLE IV.

VIGILANCE, SPEARHEAD OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 Vigilance Obligation, Spearheard and Total Share of the Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

CHAPTER I: INTENSITIES OF THE VIGILANCE OBLIGATION, SPEARHEAD OF THE COMPLIANCE SYSTEM

Section 2 🔹 Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Financial Operators, by 🕴️Anne-Claire Rouaud

Section 3 🔹 Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Digital Operators, by 🕴️Grégoire Loiseau

Section 4 🔹 Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Energy Operators, by 🕴️Marie Lamoureux

CHAPTER II: GENERAL EVOLUTION OF THE VIGILANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 Rethinking the Concept of Civil Liability in the light of the Duty of Vigilance, Spearhead of Compliance, by 🕴️Mustapha Mekki

Section 2 🔹 Contracts and clauses, implementation and modalities of the Vigilance Obligation, by 🕴️Gilles J. Martin

Section 3 🔹 Proof that Vigilance has been properly carried out with regard to the Compliance Evidence System, by 🕴️Jean-Christophe Roda

Section 4 🔹 Compliance, Vigilance and Civil Liability: put in order and keep the Reason, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Title V.

THE JUDGE AND THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Section 1 🔹 Present and Future Challenges of Articulating Principles of Civil and Commercial Procedure with the Logic of Compliance, by 🕴️Thibault Goujon-Bethan

Section 2 🔹 The Judge required for an Effective Compliance Obligation, by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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CONCLUSION

THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION: A BURDEN BORNE BY SYSTEMIC COMPANIES GIVING LIFE TO COMPLIANCE LAW  

(conclusion and key points of the books, free access)

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "General Procedural Law, prototype of the Compliance Obligation", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, 2026, forthcoming.

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📝read the article

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🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on the basis this article has been written, with more developments, technical references and hyperlinks

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Obligation, in which this article is published

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► Summary of this article: At first glance, General Procedural Law seems to be the area the least concerned by the Compliance Obligation, because if the person is obliged by it, mainly large companies, it is precisely, thanks to this Ex Ante, in order to never to have to deal with proceedings, these path that leads to the Judge, that Ex Post figure that in return for the weight of the compliance obligation they have been promised they will never see: any prospect of proceedings would be seeming to signify the very failure of the Compliance Obligation (I).

But not only are the legal rules attached to the Procedure necessary because the Judge is involved, and increasingly so, in compliance mechanisms, but they are also rules of General Procedural Law and not a juxtaposition of civil procedure, criminal procedure, administrative procedure, etc., because the Compliance Obligation itself is not confined either to civil procedure or to criminal procedure, to administrative procedure, etc., which in practice gives primacy to what brings them all together: General Procedural Law (II).

In addition to what might be called the "negative" presence of General Procedural Law, there is also a positive reason, because General Procedural Law is the prototype for "Systemic Compliance Litigation", and in particular for the most advanced aspect of this, namely the duty of vigilance (III). In particular, it governs the actions that can be brought before the Courts (IV), and the principles around which proceedings are conducted, with an increased opposition between the adversarial principle, which marries the Compliance Obligation, since both reflect the principle of Information, and the rights of the defence, which do not necessarily serve them, a clash that will pose a procedural difficulty in principle (V).

Finally, and this "prototype" status is even more justified, because Compliance Law has given companies jurisdiction over the way in which they implement their legal Compliance Obligations, it is by respecting and relying on the principles of General Procedural Law that this must be done, in particular through not only sanctions but also internal investigations (VI).

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, Arbitration consideration of Compliance Obligation for a sustainable Arbitration Place", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, 2026, forthcoming.

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📝read the article

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Obligation, in which this article is published

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► Summary of this article: The first part of this study assesses the evolving relationship between Arbitration Law and Compliance Law, which depends on the very definition of the Compliance Obligation (I). Indeed, these relations have been negative for as long as Compliance has been seen solely in terms of "conformity", i.e. obeying the rules or being punished. These relationships are undergoing a metamorphosis, because the Compliance Obligation refers to a positive and dynamic definition, anchored in the Monumental Goals that companies anchor in the contracts that structure their value chains.

Based on this development, the second part of the study aims to establish the techniques of Arbitration and the office of the arbitrator to increase the systemic efficiency of the Compliance Obligation, thereby strengthening the attractiveness of the Place (II). First and foremost, it is a question of culture: the culture of Compliance must permeate the world of Arbitration, and vice versa. To achieve this, it is advisable to take advantage of the fact that in Compliance Law the distinction between Public and Private Law is less significant, while the concern for the long term of contractually forged structural relationships is essential.

To encourage such a movement to deploy the Compliance Obligation, promoting the strengthening of a Sustainable Arbitration Place (III), the first tool is the contract. Since contracts structure value chains and enable companies to fulfill their legal Compliance Obligation but also to add their own will to it, stipulations or offers relating to Arbitration should be included in them. In addition, the adoption of non-binding texts can set out a guiding principle to ensure that concern for the Monumental Goals is appropriate in order the Compliance Obligation to be taken into account by Arbitrators.

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► Full reference : M.-A. Frison-Roche, "The Future of Compliance", series Compliance, Centre Perelman, Brussels, 23 February 2026.

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🧮view the full programme for the series Compliance (in French)

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► English presentation of this concluding conference in the series : The future of Compliance: who knows what it holds? Anyone who practises and studies the texts, litigation, structures and behaviours will have to admit that they do not know what will become of what has emerged as a new branch of law. It is not easily recognised, probably for three reasons. Firstly, because the birth of a new branch of law is an unusual phenomenon, whose disruptive and regenerative waves are felt in all branches of law and other regulatory systems, accompanying and reflecting the new world we have already entered, whether we like it or not. Secondly, because it is unpleasant (especially if you are a professor...) to begin and conclude with the fact that you do not know. Thirdly, because it is not very marketable, and in today's large and growing "compliance market", it is not very smart, if you want to sell compliance products (whether they be algorithms, new services to be linked to the highest level of companies, specialities in law firms, new chairs in various schools), to say that you don't know. So the experts say they know. For my part, I meet many people who are "experts" and who are "knowledgeable". What is surprising is the diversity of their discourse, which casts doubt on the solidity of the projection, particularly on the meaning of words: for example, not only words that could be described as "new" (which we then try to anchor in old words) such as "compliance/conformity" and "governance", but also words that we are undoubtedly more familiar with, such as "commitment" and "responsibility" or "sanction", i.e. the very pillars of the matter.

Why is this a cause for concern, apart from the fact that it is always better to know what we are talking about, rather than everyone talking in their own corner, for their own compliance corpus, for their like-minded friends, with the subject matter becoming increasingly siloed? Because the object of Compliance Law is the future. So, the future of this branch of law which its object is the future is by nature very uncertain.

It will therefore be assumed in advance that not knowing the future is a major difficulty when it comes to Compliance Law, in that this branch of law is unified in that it is ex ante and its object is the future. The difficulty is neither of the same nature nor of the same magnitude when it comes to the legislator, the "regulator", the regulated company (calculating or political), or the judge faced with systemic compliance litigation.

That said, in a first part, one can imagine the future possibilities for Compliance (because that is what it boils down to, given the number of candidates eager to seize the instruments of power that are the " Compliance tools"). It is not a foregone conclusion that this future will be governed by Law. The consequences could take care of that. Or the order given by the leader (Trump, for instance), and that would go down all the better as he states that he certainly does not care about human beings but that he wields the power of Compliance to restore the climate balance (through Chinese regulations): except to say that there is no unified Compliance Law. That there would be one for the climate and another for human rights. So what about the future consistency of European Law, which links the two in the CSRD and the CS3D? Particularly in value chains. The question then is: what will be the uniqueness of Compliance Law in the future?

In a second part, since we do not know how things will turn out, from omnibus to omnibus, from a government hostile to the Law to a government appealing to the Due Process, from case law to case law, from special law to common law, we must weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the various perspectives. There is never one perspective where everything is good and another where everything is bad, because in that case there would be no choice and no policy: it would be enough to have information, to be "rational" and to go for the right solution rather than the wrong one. Beyond general statements that a combination of compliance and ethics is welcome, which is not in doubt in the superb statements made in this regard, it is necessary to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the direction we may take. Firstly, there is the disappearance of Compliance Law, with the advantage of reducing the regulatory burden on those subject to it and the disadvantage of abandoning altruistic and global ambitions (these two Monumental Goals may overlap). Secundly, it could involve the creation of a global empire, with the advantage of a simplified American empire, whether extraterritorialised by the state or by companies and their governance or technology, with the advantage of a Western model and the disadvantage of the crushing of "mondialisation" by globalisation and the disappearance of the specific ambitions of States. Thirdly, it may be a contribution to a war between powers, particularly through the European DSA and the data war, with the advantage of European maturity in Compliance Law as an extension of Regulatory Law and the disadvantage that we could move from a war in the metaphorical sense (never use metaphors in Law) to a war. Quaterly, it could be a new rule of Law in which systemic companies participate in an alliance to achieve Monumental political Goals decided by States and political authorities, preserving systems for the future ("sustainability") so that human beings are not crushed by them but benefit from them. The disadvantage is that we have to relearn the Law, because although it has nothing to do with conformity, which is only an instrument, Compliance Law changes all branches of Law and requires the integration of other techniques, particularly political and technological ones.

In third part, in practice, we must strive in advance to reduce the disadvantages associated with the shortcomings of possible future developments in Compliance Law, just as we must strive in advance to increase the advantages associated with the qualities of possible future developments in Compliance Law. The disadvantage lies in the very nature of Compliance Law, namely its great power, because unlike Competition Law, it calls for and increases power. We must therefore counteract the prospect of compliance techniques, particularly those related to Information, being monopolised by those who only want to use them to consolidate or extend their power, laughing at Ethics and Monumental Goals. This means that supervision techniques on the one hand and a renewed role for judges on the other must be considered. The quality attached to possible futures stems from the fact that we could uphold a "Global Law" (reference to the work of Benoît Frydman, among others) and that, faced with the possible disappearance of Public International Law and the imperative preservation of value chains, particularly in the context of possible war, the alliance between supervised systemic companies and the political authorities in charge of the future of the social group that legitimises them may appear to be a legitimate, effective, efficiate and efficient system.

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⛏️Go further  :

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Law, 2016

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Conceiving Power, 2021

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📕Compliance Monumental Goals, 2022 

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝The Birth of a New Branch of Law: Compliance Law, 2024

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Law and conformity: distinguishing between them to better articulate them, 2024

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📕Complianceo Obligation, 2025

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Law and Systemic Litigation, 2025

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🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📕The Monumental Goals of Compliance, 2022 

🌐Follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

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► Full reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Asset freezing in the legal saga between American power and Venezuelan wealth", MAFR Law, Compliance, Regulation Newsletter, 23 January 2026

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🌐read this article published on LinkedIn the 23 January 2026 

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📧Read other articles from the MAFR Newsletter - Law, Compliance, Regulation for free with a subscription.

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► Summary of this article  : It is often emphasised that the  law is merely a masquerade in the series of events we are witnessing.

This is not entirely true.

For three reasons.

1. Much will depend on the judge who will rule on the Madura couple's case. The energy sector has always similarly mixed regulation, public policies of states and businesses, both articulated by States and companies, both articulated by  international contracts, always organising international arbitration

3. If ExxonMobil now refuses to make the investments desired by Trump, it is also because this enterprise remembers that many years ago the freeze  of assets granted by the arbitrators was not very successful, and now the company manager believes that investment in  Venezuala's infrastructure is therefore "impossible".

And given the current state of the law in the US, there is little Trump can do about it..

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📝⤵Read the complete article below⤵

► Référence complète :E. Roudinesco, "Donald Trump. Sur le pouvoir délirant de la Maison-Blanche", Le Grand Continent, 16 janvier 2026. 

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🦉Cet  article est accessible en texte intégrale pour les personnes qui suivent les enseignements de la professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche.

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► Référence complète : Y. Kerbrat et S. Maljean-Dubois, "Legal consequences of breaching international climate obligations in the ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change", Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), opinion, janvier 2026.

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🦉Cet  article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes qui suivent les enseignements de la professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche.

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🌐Follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐Subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

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🌐Subscribe to the Newsletter MaFR Law & Art

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► Full reference : M.-A. Frison-Roche, Saisir les principes du Droit de la Compliance à travers l'actualité (Understanding the principles of compliance law through current current legal cases and events), Jean Moulin  - Lyon 3 University Law Faculty, 10 December 2025.

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► Methodological presentation of this 4-hour MasterClass : It is difficult to teach a branch of law that is still being developed, to find a way to open its doors, because if by explaining its principles ex abrupto, the risk exists of remaining at the door, even though the aim is to open it. This door is all the more blocked by the accumulation of multiple regulatory corpus, which are now perceived as being linked to Compliance Law: GDPR, Sapin 2, Vigilance, Nis2, Dora, FCPA, etc.; These are highly technical and complicated, and tend to be studied in silos, with little connection between them and little articulation with the traditional branches of Law. Therefore, the principles that form the backbone of Compliance Law as an autonomous branch of Law are all the less apparent, even though they would make these "compliance blocks" more intelligible and manageable. However, setting out these principles, which shed light not only on the current positive law but also on how it will evolve, seems "theoretical".

In order to open the door to this new branch of Law, which already occupies a significant place in practice and is set to expand, so that it can be handled by lawyers who understand its spirit and is not entirely dominated by those from other disciplines who will master its tools (risk mapping, assessment, internal investigation, etc.), most often through algorithms and platforms (compliance by design), it is relevant to start with a few cases, a few decisions, a few texts, and a few comments, to gauge what they reveal.

Because the principles are already there. They are gradually emerging. The challenge is that they often emerge quickly, in a manner that is sufficiently consistent with other branches of Law, and that the legal aspect takes precedence. That is what is at stake today.

Each hour is devoted to a different case, based on a document of a different legal genre.

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🌐read a post on LinkedIn (in French)

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⛏️Find out more  :

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Law, 2016

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Monumental Goals, the beating heart of Compliance Law, 2023

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝In Compliance Law, the legal consequences for Entreprises of their commitments and undertakings, 2025

🕴🏻M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Law and Systemic Litigation, 2025

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► Référence complète  : K.Lenaerts, "Democracy in the EU: A Value Beyond the Ballot Box", King’s College London - Centre Of European Law – 51st Annual Lecture – 28 novembre 2025.

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►lire la transcription de cette conférence

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► Référence complète : Y. Kerbrat, "L’avis consultatif de la Cour internationale de justice du 23 juillet 2025 sur les obligations des États en matière de changement climatique", Clunet, 2025, n°4, 

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🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche.

► Référence complète : É. Schmit et A. Peter, "Introduction", in Justices manifestes , Clio - Thémis, n°29, 2025.

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📗Consulter l'ensemble de la publication

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► Résumé de l'article : Les auteurs présentent le sujet même de ce dossier : montrer la place de l'écrit dans les procédures comme mode spécifique de rituels qui eux-aussi rendent la justice "manifeste".  Présentation par les auteurs : "

"Ce dossier se situe au croisement de deux manières d’aborder et d’écrire l’histoire de la justice : celle, d’une part, qui s’intéresse aux manifestations rituelles du processus judiciaire ; et celle, d’autre part, qui traite des enjeux et des pouvoirs de l’écrit dans l’action de la justice. En repartant de la métaphore théâtrale, c’est-à-dire en envisageant la scène judiciaire comme cadre spatio-temporel du déploiement du rituel, il s’agit d’en étudier précisément les modalités d’enregistrement, pour mieux comprendre comment l’écrit participe du caractère manifeste des justices médiévales et modernes – dans leur diversité. À l’intersection entre rituel et écrit judiciaires, il y a bien sûr la procédure, entendue à la fois comme la succession des étapes conduisant à l’exécution d’une décision de justice, et comme l’ensemble des règles qui encadrent chacune de ces étapes. Faire l’histoire des modalités d’enregistrement du rituel judiciaire implique dès lors d’expliciter à la fois les rapports entre rituel et procédure, et entre procédure et écrit. Les contributions qui suivent témoignent de l’intérêt, pour les historiennes et historiens de la justice, d’articuler ces deux approches, chacune ayant fait l’objet d’une historiographie féconde.".

C'est la quatrième partie de l'article qui est plus particulièrement consacré au rôle des "écrits judiciaires", évoquant le gouvernement par l'écrit, le réseau des écritures, les écritures judiciaires grises, etc.

Le contenu des 5 articles composant le dossier est présenté ainsi : "Voilà quelques-unes des questions auxquelles les cinq articles de ce dossier apportent de précieux éléments de réponse, à partir de contextes documentaires, temporels, géographiques et juridictionnels bien différents. À partir d’une série de 70 arrêts criminels rendus au parlement de Paris au xive siècle, Isabelle D’Artagnan analyse la façon dont l’enregistrement façonne la jurisprudence de la cour quant à l’usage de deux peines infamantes, l’amende honorable et le pilori. En étudiant au plus près les modalités de l’enregistrement, elle montre combien celui-ci est en lui-même performatif : il constitue non seulement une première satisfaction pour les parties, mais oriente aussi l’action future des juges. Rudi Beaulant interroge quant à lui le rôle des écritures judiciaires comme outil de gouvernement urbain, dans un contexte de partage du pouvoir judiciaire entre ville et prince à Dijon à la fin du Moyen Âge. La multiplication et la répartition des informations enregistrées montrent que les écritures judiciaires constituent à la fois un instrument d’administration et de légitimation pour les officiers urbains, tout autant qu’elles participent de la construction de la mémoire judiciaire de la ville. Dominique Adrien s’intéresse, dans la Bavière de la fin du xve siècle, à une charte rédigée à la demande des parties qui s’opposent devant le tribunal urbain de Kempten, et dont il donne l’édition et la traduction. À partir de cette charte qui permet, dans un contexte juridictionnel concurrentiel, de consolider les droits de la plaignante mais aussi la décision du tribunal, l’auteur analyse les modalités spécifiques de l’enregistrement du procès, et notamment la place importante accordée aux témoignages oraux. Dans sa contribution, Rémi Demoen piste dans les comptes municipaux d’Amboise, Chinon et Loches au second xvie siècle les traces indirectes du rituel spécifique du jugement des comptes, dans le contexte documentaire particulièrement lacunaire de la Chambre des comptes. Il apparaît que l’écrit, davantage qu’une simple trace du rituel, joue un rôle central dans le processus même de vérification des comptes. Enfin, Mathias Boussemart consacre son article aux bandeaux gravés qui ornementent un grand nombre d’impressions judiciaires au xviiie siècle. S’il s’intéresse aux scènes judiciaires que ces bandeaux représentent, il montre surtout comment ces bandeaux, qui participent de l’ultime phase du rituel judiciaire – l’impression sur papier de décisions jugées remarquables – contribuent à la diffusion, à grande échelle, de petites scénettes judiciaires. Toutes attentives aux mécanismes d’enregistrement à l’œuvre, ces contributions affinent, dans la diversité des cas étudiés, notre compréhension des rituels judiciaires.".

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