Contrasting common and civil law: legal governance and the specialization of courts

While the previous chapter looked at examples in substantive law that seem to be more appropriately addressed by French law rather than by common law (and with implications for economic performance), in this section we look at court structure and organization. As mentioned above, although the infl uence of these variables on economic growth is controversial, they have been part of the argument against the effi ciency of French civil law. In particular, it has been suggested that the model of court specialization followed in France is not conducive to economic growth.1