ministère public

ministère public, in France, the office of public prosecutor, with the responsibility for prosecuting criminal cases and representing the interests of society in civil litigation. The ministère public is represented by agents (procureurs) in most of the courts of France, except police courts.

The position of procureur goes back to the 13th century, when the king found it necessary to have representatives in the courts throughout the country to protect his interests and present his views on litigation that affected the public. In early times the ministère public was also responsible for making sure that officials did their jobs and punished those who were negligent or corrupt.

In modern times the position of the agents of the ministère public is somewhat different and presents something of a dichotomy to legal analysts. In theory the various procureurs are supposed to represent the interests of society as a whole rather than that of the state. Yet in criminal prosecutions they are clearly acting for the state. The decision to prosecute rests with the procureur, but he is ultimately under the control of the Ministry of Justice, a government department. Even with this underlying threat of political interference, the procureurs still have considerable freedom. Particularly in civil cases, in which the procureur may be acting as plaintiff in his own name or that of a government agency, or in which he may be merely an observer or an interested party, his main interest is that the law be correctly interpreted and applied. In addition, the procureur général attached to the Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court) is responsible for bringing to the attention of the court decisions of lower courts that ought to be reviewed because of possible faulty interpretation of the law. In all courts, the interpretations of the procureurs have considerable influence upon the judges.