Preliminary Title: Publication, effects and application of laws in general

Laws and, when published in the Official Journal of the French Republic, administrative acts come into force on the date they specify or, failing that, on the day following their publication. However, the entry into force of those of their provisions whose execution requires implementing measures shall be postponed until the date of entry into force of those measures. In the event of an emergency, laws whose promulgation decree so…

The law provides only for the future; it has no retroactive effect.

The laws of police and security bind all who inhabit the territory. Immovables, even those owned by foreigners, are governed by French law. The laws concerning the status and capacity of persons govern French people, even those residing in foreign countries.

The judge who refuses to judge, on the pretext of the silence, obscurity or inadequacy of the law, may be prosecuted as guilty of denial of justice.

Judges are forbidden to rule by way of general and regulatory provision on the cases submitted to them.

There can be no derogation, by particular agreements, from laws which concern public order and morality.

Marriage and adoptive filiation carry the same effects, rights and obligations recognised by law, with the exception of those provided for in Chapters I to IV of Title VII of Book I of this Code, whether the spouses or parents are of different or the same sex.

All children whose filiation has been legally established have the same rights and duties in their relationship with their parents, subject to the provisions specific to simple adoption. Parentage brings a child into the family of each of its parents.