nding to a group of two or
three ministerial departments, and a fifth section which deals more
directly with questions of administrative law. It is the function of
the Council to consider and make reply to all questions relating to
administrative affairs which the Government may lay before it; and in
all administrative cases at law it is the court of last resort. Below
it stands, in each department, a _conseil de prefecture_, or
prefectural council, which is the court of first instance in all
litigation arising out of the application of administrative law. A
specialized function of the prefectural council is the determining of
the validity of arrondissement and municipal elections.[504]

[Footnote 504: For an account of the administrative
law of France see A. V. Dicey, The Law of the
Constitution (7th ed., London, 1908), Chap. 12.
Important French works on the subject include H.
Barthelemy, Traite elementaire de droit
administratif (5th ed., Paris, 1908); H. Chardon,
L'administration de la France, les fonctionnaires
(Paris, 1908); G. Jeze, Les principes generaux du
droit administratif (Paris, 1904); and J. L. Aucoc,
Conferences sur l'administration et le droit
administratif (3d ed., Paris, 1885). Mention may be
made also of E. J. Laferriere, Traite de la
jurisdiction administrative et des recours
contentieux (Paris, 1887-1888), and Varagnac, Le
Conseil d'Etat et les projets de reforme, in _Revue
des Deux Mondes_, Aug. 15, and Sept. 15, 1892.]

*373. Other Courts.*--Between the hierarchy of ordinary courts (p. 341)
and that of administrative tribunals stand a variety of courts of
special character--courts of commerce, courts of accounts, courts of
public instruction. There is a _Tribunal des Conflits_, or Court of
Conflicts, composed of the Minister of Justice, three members of the
Court of Cassation, three of the Council of State, and two elected by
these seven. Under the presidency of the Minister of Justice, it
determines, in the event of doubt or dispute, the competent
jurisdiction, ordinary or administrative, to be extended to a
particular case. Finally the fact may be recalled that to take
cognizance of attacks