Minister of Justice (), formally known as Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice (''Garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice''), is a cabinet position in the
Government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
. The current minister of justice has been
Gérald Darmanin
Gérald Moussa Jean Darmanin (; born 11 October 1982) is a French politician serving as Minister of Justice (France), Minister of Justice in the Bayrou government. He previously served as Minister of the Interior (France), Minister of the Inter ...
since 2024. The ministry is headquartered on
Place Vendôme
The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madelein ...
in the
1st arrondissement of Paris
The 1st arrondissement of Paris (''Ier arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le premier'' (the first). I ...
.
Function
The roles of the minister are to:
* oversee the building, maintenance and administration of courts;
* sit as vice president of the Judicial Council (which oversees the judicial performance and advises on prosecutiorial performance);
* supervise public prosecutions;
* direct corrections and the prison system
* propose legislation affecting civil or criminal law or procedure.
The Minister of Justice also holds the ceremonial office of
Keeper of the Seals of France
Keeper or Keepers may refer to:
People and characters
Persons
* Keeper (surname)
* William Keepers Maxwell Jr. (1908–2000), American novelist and editor
Roles
* Archivist
* Beekeeper
* Gamekeeper
* Gatekeeper
* Greenkeeper
* Keeper of th ...
and is custodian of the
Great Seal of France
The Great Seal of France () is the official seal of the French Republic. After the 1792 revolution established the First French Republic, the insignia of the monarchy was removed from the seal. Over time, the new seal changed. At first, it featu ...
. This symbolic role is still shown in the order of words of the minister's official designation, Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals (''Ministre de la Justice, garde des Sceaux'').
France's Ministry of Justice might oversee the administration of justice in
French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
,
French Polynesia
French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
,
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
,
Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
,
Martinique
Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
,
Mayotte
Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...
,
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
Réunion
Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...
,
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about southeast of the island ...
,
Saint-Martin,
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...
and
Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (), is a French island territorial collectivity, collectivity in the Oceania, South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga t ...
.
List of ministers
See also
*
Ministry of Justice (France)
The Ministry of Justice () is a ministerial department of the Government of France, also known in French as . It is headed by the Minister of Justice, also known as the Keeper of the Seals, a member of the Council of Ministers. The ministry's ...
*
List of ministers of justice of France
*
Prison conditions in France
References
External links
Ministry of Justice
*
Living in Detention – Handbook for New Inmates – French Prison Service
{{authority control
Justice
In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
Prisons ministers