Contenu du sommaire : Justice et médias.

Judicial Practice as the Wager of Power between Justice and Media. In this article, an analysis is traced of what appears increasingly as a power relationship between Justice and media. Beyond the investigation of the forms taken by this relationship, the examination of the reasons for its existence are here of particular interest to us. One explanation put forward is that Justice has not been able to assume fully its role in the context of the reconstruction of social control, an argument which has allowed media to consider themselves able to assume the role of expressing « what is right and what is true ». Rather than opting for an attitude of resignation or indignation in the matter, the question remains of how to establish the basis upon which a renewed complementarity between Justice and média may be built, enabling the reintroduction of the function of justice into « City » affairs.

Is Justice « delocalizable » to the Sphere of Media? The relationships between justice and media are today clearly illustrated by what may be considered as the contemporary illusion of a direct democracy. A surreptitious move is made from the condemnation of the dysfunctionning of institutions, to their disqualification, and finally to the substitution of their work by the media. However limited in its degree, this substitution is sufficient to illustrate how media are able to « do better », how they have become the arena for true democracy because they are the most able to represent social expectations and facilitate communication between citizens. Henceforth, justice is sought in the public arena, beyond the mediating influence of rules, and outside the circumscribed space reserved for discussion, that is, without reference to an intelligible, intellectual framework for its development. In short, we are witnessing through the media, the fantasy of a « delocalized » democracy, in the true meaning of the term. The question may nonetheless be raised as to whether what is foreseen will improve our institutions, or whether, on the contrary, we are not taking the risk of regressing to a natural state?

Law and Politics : outdated notions, new fields of research. The origin of the present study is the critical appraisal of a collective work presenting a series of variations on the renewed thème of the relation between Law and Politics. The question was that of seeing how the political and juridical sciences viewed each other, given the common ground that they increasingly share : Law. In order to better grasp the contemporary situation characterising this methodological debate, a three-phase approach has been adopted. The first of these entails the examination of the state of the situation, as characterised by the confrontation of the disciplinary types of fundamentalism involved : the legal specialists' sense of purity is a response to the prevailing stance of the politics experts, which tends to oppose a juridical approach considered as too rigid. The second phase is a description of the new disciplinary fields of study which have emanated from the increasing involvement between law and politics. The third and final phase provides a reflection on the intensity of the types of reclassification occurring in this field : whilst the legal specialists have not given up positivism, nor have the politics experts renounced upon their scepticism with respect to law.

When the French Civil Code forbids marriage and marries the deceased. Individuals have always structured the network within which they may identify their potential spouses. Some marriages are positively encouraged, others authorized, and certain forbidden. While the marriage rate throughout Western countries is declining, one may question the reasons behind a certain aspiration towards matrimonial status, a status otherwise normally challenged by common practice. All the more intriguing is the fact that since the beginning of the XIXth Century, requests for exemption for marriages between blood relations or persons related through marriage have fallen sharply, whereas a slight increase in requests for posthumous marriages (a practice specific to France) has occured. The study of requests concerning civil exemptions for marriage provides insight into the reasons underlying the contemporary loss of interest in marriage.

The Lawyer's Fee in Penal Defense : an economy of the professional relationship. How are the lawyer's fees settled in the case of penal affairs, where clients are neither weaithy nor necessarily honest ? According to the author, the ethical value of disinterest or impartiality facilitates the structuring of the relationship between the two protagonists. It provides the basis for the negotiation of fees, the terms of which are to be found in the settlement of the defense argument held in common, and in the definition of the ethical grounds characterising the professional relationship. The lawyer may thus maintain his dominant position in the relationship, but still grant his client a certain degree of autonomy, including the assessment of fees. Moreover, the lawyer has the possibility of maintaining authority in terms of establishing his economic value on the penal affairs market, hence avoiding his submission to the law of supply and demand.