Observations critiques sur l'exclusivité proclamée des sources formelles du droit dans la jurisprudence administrative

The paper explores the use of different sources of law by the French highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat. In civil law tradition countries, such as France, the judgements are short and non detailed, giving the misleading impression that statutes are exclusively used to reach decisions. The paper argues that, just like common law judges, French judges use other sources as well during their decision making process, from non binding soft law to foreign law.