The liberty and custody judge may be replaced, in the event of a vacancy, absence or impediment, by a judge of the first grade or outside the hierarchy designated by the president of the judicial court. If these judges are unable to act, the president of the judicial court may appoint a judge of the second grade.
For the organisation of weekend service or reduced service during the period in which magistrates benefit from their annual leave, the liberty and custody judge of a judicial court may be designated to perform these duties concurrently in no more than two other judicial courts within the jurisdiction of the court of appeal; this designation is decided by order of the first president made at the request of the presidents of these courts and after consultation with the president of the judicial court concerned; it specifies the reason and the duration, as well as the courts for which it applies; the total duration of concurrent exercise of the duties of juge des libertés et de la détention in several judicial courts may not exceed forty days during the judicial year.
The designation provided for in the previous paragraph may also be ordered, under the same terms and conditions and for a total intermittent or continuous period, which may not exceed forty days, when, due to a vacancy or impediment, no magistrate is likely, within a court, to perform the duties of juge des libertés et de la détention.