Information missions are an ideal way for the Council to meet magistrates in their working environment and to gain a practical understanding of the difficulties they face. They also enable it to provide information on the conditions under which it exercises its own prerogatives, the policy it implements and the findings it makes, particularly in its appointment activity.

mission dans le ressort de la cour d'appel de Rennes

The Council has no wish to carry out what could be construed as an inspection of the courts it visits. It acts, within the limits of its remit, to gain a better understanding of the needs of the courts of appeal and courts of first instance, those of the magistrates (judges and prosecutors) and civil servants, their expectations and the constraints they face.

Meetings with heads of courts, the general assembly of magistrates, directors of court registries, presidents of bar associations and representatives of professional organisations of civil servants and magistrates provide an overall view of the court concerned.

Among the issues of current concern, there is a constant recurrence of those relating to vacancies, the duration of these vacancies, the uncertain prospects for improvement and the direct consequence of this, i.e. the determination of priorities made necessary by understaffing.

As the focus is generally on handling criminal and family cases, the fate of the courts' other civil responsibilities, especially at the level of the courts of first instance, is a source of dissatisfaction and frustration, not only for the litigants directly concerned, but also for the departments that are affected by it.

Individual meetings with magistrates who have requested an interview seem to be very useful. Actually, by drawing attention to specific situations and the difficulty of reconciling professional and personal life, they help to inform the Council.

In this respect, heads of court frequently mention two pitfalls:

• the frequent mobility of young magistrates in a number of courts, which hinders continuity in the implementation of court projects;
• and the opposite, the fact that too many magistrates have been in the same position for too long in the same court, which is sometimes seen as an obstacle to internal reforms.

However, the Council has noted, particularly through individual interviews, that many magistrates, aware of the latter risk and keen to broaden their experience despite their personal constraints, seek to compensate for their lack of geographical mobility through functional mobility.

Programme of an information mission

deroulé d'une mission

The missions are organised in such a way that the Council can meet all the players involved in the life of the court. After an initial meeting with the heads of the courts of appeals or of the courts of first instance and with the head of the registrar to present the jurisdiction and its specific features, the members of the delegation meet with the magistrates at the general assembly. This meeting is an opportunity to present the Council's missions and answer questions about its work. It is a forum for often very rich discussions that give a better idea of the climate in the court or tribunal concerned. 

The trade unions, both magistrates and civil servants, are received collectively. The Council also meets the president of the bar in order to discuss the specific characteristics of the local bar and its relationship with the court.

Time is set aside to visit the premises.

The Council always makes sure that it meets with all judges who request it to discuss their situation in individual meetings. At the end of the mission, a report is drawn up, which enables members who were unable to participate, to receive information on the observations made.

Each mission is reported on the Twitter account of the Council.

Tableau des Missions pour la mandature 2019 - 2023