Cantons of France
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The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.
Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as constituencies for the election of the members of the representative assembly (General Council) in each department. For this reason, such elections are known in France as "cantonal elections".
There are currently 4,032 cantons in France.[1] Most of them group together a number of communes (the lowest administrative division of the French Republic), although larger communes may comprise a number of cantons, since the cantons are intended to be roughly equal in size of population – unlike the communes which range in size from more than two million inhabitants (Paris) to just one person (Rochefourchat).
Role and administration
The role of the canton is, essentially, to provide a framework for departmental elections. Each canton elects a person to represent it at the conseil général du département – or general council for the department, which is the principal administrative division of the French Republic.
In urban areas, a single commune generally includes several cantons. Conversely, in rural areas, a canton may comprise several smaller communes. In which case, administrative services, the gendarmerie headquarters for example, are often situated in the principal town (chef-lieu) of the canton, although exceptions, such as cantons Gaillon-Campagne and Sarreguemines-Campagne, which have in common a "chief-town" which does not belong to either canton, occur.
For statistical (INSEE) purposes, the twenty arrondissements of Paris – the administrative subdivision of that city – are sometimes considered cantons, but they serve no greater electoral function.
Cantons also form legal districts, as seats of Tribunaux d'instance or "Courts of First Instance" (also, "TI"...). Historically, the cantons are called justices de paix or "district courts".
History
The cantons were created in 1790 at the same time as the départements by the Revolutionary Committee for the Division of Territory (Comité de division). They were more numerous than today (between 40 and 60 to each département). Cantons were, at first, grouped into what were called districts. After the abolition of the district in 1800, they were reorganized by the Consulate into arrondissements. The number of cantons was then drastically reduced (between 30 and 50 units) by the Loi du 8 pluviôse an IX (28 January 1801), or the "Law for the Reduction of the Number of District Courts", or Loi portant réduction du nombre de justices de paix in French. The département prefects were told by the government to group the communes within newly established cantons. The département lists, once approved by the government, were published in the Bulletin des lois in 1801 and 1802; these lists are still the basis of the administrative divisions of France in place today, although cantons with small populations have been eliminated and new cantons created in areas of strong demographic growth. On the whole, their number has increased appreciably.
Statistics
The number of cantons varies from one département to another; the Territoire de Belfort, for example, has 15, while Nord has 79.
See also
- Administrative divisions of France
- Canton (subnational entity)
- List of cantons of France