Freedom of Association in France

Abstract Freedom of association has been an important fundamental right in France since a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court in 1971. In that decision, the Court not only ruled that freedom of association was a constitutional right that was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, but also that the Constitutional Court could overrule an Act of Parliament if it was incompatible with such a fundamental constitutional right. That kind of ‘Marbury v Madison’ decision was a small revolution in France. In 1971, it was the first time that a piece of legislation was annulled by the Constitutional Court because it was incompatible with a fundamental right when Parliament wanted to change the system of declaration of associations into a system of authorisation. Nevertheless, since 2017, there has never been such a high number of dissolutions of associations. Moreover, since the statute against separatism in August 2021, there has been a new ground to dissolve associations that “provoke armed demonstrations or acts of violence against persons or property.” The change in the law in 2021 has led to a marked increase in the number of dissolutions, which might lead one to believe that freedom of association is under threat in France.