In a context of growing discomfort within the judiciary, the two main magistrates’ unions ask, Saturday, December 11, the Minister of Justice to issue a circular setting at 9 p.m. the maximum time for the end of hearings.
“An end of hearing at 11 pm or midnight is commonplace, and we feel happy to end around 9 pm”, write, in a joint letter addressed to Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Union Syndicale des Magistrates (USM, majority) and the Syndicat de la magistrature (SM, classified on the left).
Depending on the jurisdiction, between 22 and 37.5% of hearings are nightly, with “points” ranging from 46 to 78%, according to a questionnaire sent to magistrates in more than 50 jurisdictions, according to the two unions.
Now, they add, “the circular of June 6, 2001 relating to the duration of hearings (…) indicated that correctional hearings should not exceed ‘reasonable limits’, namely a duration of six hours over a half-day and eight hours over a half-day. day, including deliberation “.
This “Lebranchu circular” is “fallen into disuse, in the absence of publication to make it enforceable”, according to the unions. “We cannot imagine that the Ministry of Justice could assume to allow a situation to persist which, in addition to constituting a clear violation of the applicable texts relating to working hours and rest time, has direct effects on quality. justice rendered to the detriment of litigants “, they continue.
This letter comes four days before a national day of “general mobilization for justice”, on December 15, at the call of more than fifteen professional organizations and unions of lawyers, registry officials and magistrates.