The judiciary of France is the court system, administrated by the Minister of Justice, of France. It is separated into the ordinary courts, which litigate criminal and civil cases, and the administrative courts, which supervise the government and handle complaints thereof. There are three tiers to each court: the inferior court, the intermediate appellate court and the court of last resort. The intermediate appellate court hears cases on appeal from the inferior court, and the court of last resort hears appeals from the intermediate appellate courts. Judges are appointed by the High Council of the Judiciary and serve for life unless removed, with due process, by the Council.

France's independent court system enjoys special statutory protection from the executive branch. Procedures for the appointment, promotion, and removal of judges vary depending on whether it is for the ordinary ("judiciaire") or the administrative stream. Judicial appointments in the judicial stream must be approved by a special panel, the High Council of the Judiciary. Once appointed, career judges serve for life and cannot be removed without specific disciplinary proceedings conducted before the council with due process.

The Ministry of Justice handles the administration of courts and the judiciary, including paying salaries or constructing new courthouses. The Ministry also funds and administers the prison system. Lastly, it receives and processes applications for presidential pardons and proposes legislation dealing with matters of civil or criminal justice. The Minister of Justice is also the head of public prosecution, though this is controversial since it is seen to represent a conflict of interest in cases such as political corruption against politicians.

At the basic level, the courts can be seen as organized into:

The structure of the French judiciary is divided into three tiers:

There are exceptions to this scheme, as noted below.

While in Germanic Europe the supreme courts can and do tend to write more verbose opinions supported by legal reasoning, the typical Francophone court of cassation decision is short, concise and devoid of explanation or justification. There is no stare decisis, or principle of precedent, binding lower courts to respect superior courts' rulings (case law) on questions of law; but a line of similar case decisions, while not precedent per se, forms the jurisprudence constante.

Public offenses are categorized as: