Section 1: Jurisdiction of the courts and proceedings before them

The ordinary civil courts have exclusive jurisdiction to hear disputes concerning the French or foreign nationality of natural persons. Questions of nationality are preliminary before any other administrative or judicial court, with the exception of criminal courts including a criminal jury.

The seat and jurisdiction of the judicial courts competent to hear disputes over the French or foreign nationality of natural persons shall be determined by decree.

The procedure followed in nationality matters, and in particular the communication to the Ministry of Justice of summonses, submissions and avenues of appeal, is determined by the Code of Civil Procedure.

Any person has the right to act to have it decided that he or she has or does not have French nationality. The public prosecutor has the same right with regard to any person. He is a necessary defendant in any action declaring nationality. He must be called into question whenever a question of nationality is raised as an incident before a court competent to hear it.

The public prosecutor is required to act if requested to do so by a public authority or by a third party who has raised the nationality objection before a court which has stayed the proceedings pursuant to Article 29. The third party making the request must be implicated.

Judgments and rulings handed down in matters of French nationality by the ordinary law judge have effect even with regard to those who were neither parties nor represented. Any interested party is, however, admissible to challenge them by third-party opposition on condition that they implicate the public prosecutor.