Clarity in the Code du Travail: The Plain Language Movement, French Legislative Drafting, and President Macron’s Collective Bargaining Reform

Authors

Adam Boyd

Abstract

Although the French Code is known as concise and elegant, the French Labor Code, or the Code du Travail, is not.1 Recent reform to the Code du Travail provides a chance to study Plain Language use in France in 2017. This Comment briefly introduces what Plain Language is, its goal of making the law easier to read, and the international movement to implement Plain Language legal reforms. The Comment then introduces a summary of the French legal system relevant to discussion of the Code du Travail, including how legislation is passed and the structure of a French statute. Next, the Comment discusses the recent labor reform in France, with a brief focus on collective bargaining laws in the context of Plain Language. Eventually, the Comment concludes that changes can still be made to the recent reform to provide more clarity to the reader. Finally, the Comment attempts revisions to two proposed articles within Article 7 of Ordonnance 17-1385 in both French and English.

Recommended Citation

Adam Boyd, Clarity in the Code du Travail: The Plain Language Movement, French Legislative Drafting, and President Macron’s Collective Bargaining Reform, 7 Penn. St. J.L. & Int'l Aff. 263 (2019).
Available at: https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/jlia/vol7/iss1/23