A public action in French law (french: action publique) is one carried out in the name of society against an by applying the

French penal code French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

. It is taken in the name of society, in that its goal is to stop a disruption of the public order, and not to abate a done to a specific person. The action is taken by the Ministère public against the authors, co-authors or accomplices of an . The term ''public action'' is defined in Article 1 of the

. on Légifrance

Public action put in play

Subjects of a public action

The active subject of a public action is usually the ministère public, a hierarchical corps of magistrates charged with carrying out these actions. Alongside them, other civil servants are, for certain infractions, empowered to begin a public action, notably for indirect taxes, bridges, roads, waters and forests. The requestor may also be the victim, if the requestor is a '' partie civile''. The passive subject is the author of the infraction, against whom the public action is brought. The defendants are the , authors, coauthors and accomplices of the . They must be identifiable, although not necessarily identified, for the public action to begin.

References

French criminal law {{France-law-stub