ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a general comparative overview of the particular status of the civil service based on the analysis of a number of national legal systems (mostly those of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Poland) and of European law, especially the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. This status is composed of rights and duties that are often specific to the civil service. They are quite different from the rights and duties of employees in the private sector, though they may be similar. Public officials are recruited to serve public authorities in the interest of the public at large. They have a special bond of trust with the public authorities and with the population. This bond is even stronger for those in a statutory position, civil servants in the narrow sense, whose duties may thus be reinforced. The reasons for the particular status of all public officials, and its main elements, are described. National rules may differ due to different traditions or political choices. There are also many similarities between national laws, mostly due to the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights or public sector privatisation trends.
