ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a thumbnail sketch of the French system of public authority liability. The French system of state liability is feted as one of the most liberal in the world. This is followed by an assessment of the way in which the French administrative courts have dealt with child abuse cases. The chapter also examines various control mechanisms in French law and attempts made to explain why there is such a dearth of cases. There is another particularly potent reason explaining the lack of child abuse tort cases in French law. This is intricately linked to the institutional structure of child welfare in France. In French law, jurisdiction over public law cases, including claims for damages, falls to the administrative courts. A fundamental tenet of French administrative liability is that any illegal administrative decision will per se constitute fault capable of giving rise to liability. This results in an extremely broad conception of the notion of 'fault'.
