France high court overturns colonial history law News
France high court overturns colonial history law

[JURIST] France's Constitutional Council [official website], the country's highest court, has struck down [court materials, in French] a clause in a 2005 French law [text, in French; Guardian report] that requires teachers to stress the positive aspects of French colonialism. The court reasoned it was "outside the competence of the legislature" to make such a determination. Earlier this year, French President Jacques Chirac said the law should be overturned [JURIST report] and last week referred the case [JURIST report] to the constitutional court. Xinhua has more. Le Monde has local coverage [in French].

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