A bill tabled to authorize the tilde for civil status

The affair of the tilde on the first name Fañch will rebound in the National Assembly. Morbihan MP Paul Molac (Liberty and Territories) thus tabled a bill aiming to authorize this diacritical mark in the civil status. The proposal will be debated on February 13 in the hemicycle. "The idea is to pinpoint a problem in this Republic: the fact that we continue to ostracize regional languages," said Paul Molac in a press release.

#GwennHaDu Fañch case. Paul Molac will defend a bill in February before the parliament. The ball is therefore in the government's court. pic.twitter.com/u7QdGXDONW

The question of authorizing or not the tilde on the first name Fañch has been causing a lot of turmoil for several months in Brittany. At the end of November, the Brest public prosecutor's office ordered the civil register not to write the first name Fañch with the tilde, despite the judicial victory of another Fañch in cassation the previous month. The parents of little Fañch Bernard, born in May 2017, had indeed succeeded after a legal battle of more than two years.

Prosecutor returns the ball to the legislator

Refuting this interpretation, the Rennes Court of Appeal had estimated in November 2018 that the tilde did not infringe "the principle of drafting public documents in French", since it appeared in several French dictionaries but also in decrees of nomination. The Court of Cassation declared the appeal of the public prosecutor's office against this judgment inadmissible.

Fañch case: After the controversy over the tilde, the Rennes attorney general makes things clear https://t.co/wASViVG7mT via @ 20minutesRennes pic.twitter.com/R3DZ0SummZ

"The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal of the public prosecutor's office for purely formal reasons, it did not rule on the merits," said Jean-François Thony, attorney general of Rennes. "The constant law is the circular relating to the civil status which prohibited", in July 2014, diacritical marks based on "an opinion from the French Academy", he said. “It is up to the national representatives to decide. Too often we want justice to do what the legislator did not want to do, "added the magistrate.

Paul Molac judged "misleading" the interpretation of the Attorney General, who favors a circular, "the lowest degree of our legal order" to the Constitution, which recognizes regional languages ​​as "heritage of France".

Justice

After the controversy over the tilde, the prosecutor general of Rennes makes things clear

Society

"A first name is a tattoo for life, for better or for worse"

• Law
• Controversy
• Deputy
• National Assembly
• Civil status
• Society