When justice is slow, can we choose another judge?

Service-Public.fr replies:

When a person brings a dispute before the court, the judge must deal with the case in a reasonable period. This is one of the fair trial requirements protected by the European law to which French judges are subject.

Referral to the courts is subject to strict procedural rules which cannot be changed (e.g. jurisdiction of the court in certain matters, according to the amount of the application, according to its territorial jurisdiction, etc.).

That is what the second paragraph has just pointed out^e Civil Division of the Court of Cassation in a judgment of 3 October 2024.

In that case, an employee had referred the matter to the Conseil de prud’hommes de Versailles instead of the competent Conseil de prud’hommes de Nanterre, on the ground that the overloading of the Conseil de prud’hommes de Nanterre would delay the decision.

The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal: the court with territorial jurisdiction is the only one that can be seised by an individual, even though it would be unable to deliver a decision within a suitable period.

So you don't change judges, even though the process before them is too long.

A rule of public policy cannot be excluded from the proceedings on the ground of an unreasonable period of time for judgment.