Claire Fleury, Alain Lemaître, conciliators of justice, Jean Seither, first president of the court of appeal of Douai and Didier Decarne, president of the conciliators of Hauts-de-France. – G. Durand / 20 Minutes
- The function of conciliators of justice has existed for more than 40 years, but its power was accentuated when Christiane Taubira was Keeper of the Seals.
- These volunteers take care of managing disputes of less than 5,000 euros to relieve the courts.
- In 2020, the number of referrals to conciliators amounted to 11,000, with an agreement found in half of the cases.
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Do you dream of rendering justice under a large oak tree, like a famous king of France? Good thing, the Douai Court of Appeal is recruiting fifty conciliators in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais *. For the location, it’s up to everyone. For the mission, it is about picking up the pieces in neighborhood conflicts and managing small financial disputes.
” The function of conciliator of justice has existed for more than 40 years, but its power was accentuated when Christiane Taubira was Keeper of the Seals, in particular with the obligation to go through conciliation for disputes of less than 5,000 euros ”, explains Didier Decrane, president of the Hauts conciliators -of France.
“Show common sense”
The function that requires a strong sense of self-sacrifice because it is voluntary. “No obligation to hold a law degree, you just have to show common sense”, specifies Jean Seither, first president of the Douai Court of Appeal, on which the regional justice conciliators depend. Training provided by the institution is also provided for candidates.
Conciliator of justice: auxiliary of justice, he intervenes in the context of a conflict between two natural or legal persons in order to obtain an amicable agreement between them and thus avoid a lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/ft9m5GFwQJ
– Ministry of Justice (@justice_gouv) June 19, 2019
In the two departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, they (and they) are 185 to deliver justice for free. Like Claire Fleury, former veterinarian. “I did not see myself spending my retirement too calm. Having worked in the public service, I wanted to be useful and have a new experience ”.
But these 185 volunteers are too few. The number of referrals continues to increase each year, reaching almost 16,000 in 2019, within the jurisdiction of the Douai Court of Appeal (i.e. the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais) .
“We are peacemakers”
With the health crisis, the figure fell to around 11,000 last year, but still with the same “success rate”: half of the referrals lead to an agreement between the two parties. It will be understood that the advantage of this device is to relieve the courts.
“The principle is to deliver justice without focusing on legal texts,” explains Didier Decarne. One can imagine a dispute between two neighbors over the height of a tree, for example. The law specifies that the size of the tree cannot exceed 2 m in height, but if the two protagonists agree on a height of 2.50, the decision will be recorded by an official agreement. “
“We are peacemakers. Being able to bring the two protagonists together is already a big step towards an amicable settlement, ”said Alain Lemaître, conciliator in the Pas-de-Calais. The latter remembers sometimes surprising cases. “A family was torn apart even on the grave of a deceased, one preventing the other from making it flower on All Saints’ Day. The flowers were disappearing. The mayor decided to call on my services and the dispute was resolved with time and discussion. “
Litigation with airlines
Didier Decarne, for his part, also remembers another emblematic story. “A lady had concluded a telephony contract which allowed her to obtain a cell phone for 1 euro. When his cell phone was stolen, he was offered to return a new chip, but not a new phone. In good faith, she did not understand why, ”says Didier Decarne. She had to sign a new contract to get a new one-euro phone. But, as a result, she received two bills. “We got the operator to cancel the second contract,” he explains.
The conciliators have indeed their entries in the large brands often subject to this kind of dispute. If residential leases are the most frequent cases of litigation, problems related to consumption come just after. “We will soon see an explosion in disputes with airlines” predicts Didier Decarne.
It is true that in 2020, the regional branch of the UFC-Que Choisir has already seen the number of disputes concerning the aviation sector and travel agencies increase tenfold compared to the previous year.
According to him, the conciliation procedure nevertheless still escapes “the French spirit”. “In the event of a problem, we like to have an authority that decides in France,” he notes. But justice can be incredibly violent when you don’t know how it works. The Anglo-Saxons are more in the culture of compromise and conciliation. “
* To apply, information to be obtained from [email protected] or [email protected]
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