In France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, and some other civil law

Civil law (legal system)

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

 countries, a circulaire (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

), circolare (Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

) or omzendbrief (Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

) consists of a text intended for the members of a service, of an enterprise

Company

A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

, or of an administration.

Within the French and Belgian civil service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

, a circulaire originates from a ministry

Ministry (government department)

A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...

 with the aim of giving an interpretation of a legal text or of a regulation

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

 (a decree

Decree

A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...

, arrêté or Royal Order), with a view to applying such a regulation consistently. As such, a circulaire depends on the general principles of law, but carries more weight than mere administrative acts.

Circulaires provide recommendations: they apply only to employees of the civil service. In certain cases, circulaires introduce new rules (circulaires réglementaires); such that under certain conditions one can appeal against abuse of power

Abuse of Power

Abuse of Power is a novel written by radio talk show host Michael Savage.- Plot :Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary...

.

The body of jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

 relating to circulaires has developed extensively. In principle, circulaires exist only to comment on existing law and to explain its application in concrete terms.

The contentious side of circulaires, of notes de services and of instructions has brought about several legal responses, varying according to several criteria and according to the type of text involved:

• the regulatory nature of the text

• the character of the measure of internal administration

• the regulatory power of Ministers within their Departments

• Government decisions

The Conseil d'État (French) or Raad van State

Council of State (Belgium)

Council of State , in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government: it is the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the supreme court for administrative justice...

(Dutch) thus far retains a unique criterion for determining whether to bring a disputed decision in front of a judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

: the imperative character of the decision. If this condition applies, judges examine the legality of the text. This has been the case for the Peeters directive

Peeters directive

The Peeters directive , officially Circular BA 97/22 of 16 December 1997 concerning the use of languages in municipal councils of the Dutch language area, is a circulaire of the Flemish government regulating the use of languages in municipal councils in the Flemish Region , where the sole official...

in Belgium, restricting the use of French in officially Dutch-speaking municipalities.