The Council of Europe celebrates the bicentenary of the French Civil Code

To mark the bicentenary of the French Civil Code, the Council of Europe, together with the French Court of Cassation and the Ministry of Justice, is organising a colloquy on 21 and 22 October 2004 in Strasbourg.

The colloquy, held with the support of the French National Legal Service Training College, was opened on Thursday, at 9.30 am, by French Justice Minister Dominique Perben, German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio.

For over fifty years, the Council of Europe has been helping to create a European legal area by harmonising and modernising the legal systems of its 46 member states on the basis of common standards.

Many of its conventions and recommendations have significantly influenced the civil law of those countries, in particular the family law.

During the high-level meeting in the Council's Assembly Chamber, 350 legal code specialists and distinguished personalities from the worlds of law and politics will discuss the following themes:

• influence of the French Civil Code on other codes;
• the Civil Code and international instruments, and particularly the influence of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the principles embodied in the Code;
• codifying techniques employed in the Civil Code.

The future of the Civil Code in Europe will be considered at a round table, chaired by Simone Veil, former French Minister of State, and attended by leading European politicians on Friday 22 October, from 2 pm to 5 pm.

The event is open to the press.