Cantons of France

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the series on Administrative divisions of France
Regional level
Région (incl. Overseas régions)
Departmental level
Département (incl. Overseas départements)
Arrondissement level
Arrondissement
Cantonal level
Canton
Intercommunal level
Communauté urbaine Communauté d'agglomération Communauté de communes
Communal level
Commune Commune associée Municipal arrondissement
Overseas
Collectivité d'outre-mer Collectivité sui generis Pays d'outre-mer Territoire d'outre-mer Scattered islands Clipperton Island

The cantons of France are administrative divisions subdividing arrondissements and départements. They often group several municipalities (communes).

Cantons number 3,879 among the 329 arrondissements and 96 departments of France.

1 Role and administration
2 History
3 Statistics
4 See also

[edit] Role and administration

The role of the canton is essentially to provide a framework for regional 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 in France.

In urban areas a single commune — or municipality — can generally include several cantons. Conversely, in rural areas a canton can be made of several small communes, in which case administrative services (the gendarmerie headquarters, for example) are often situated in the principal town (chef-lieu) of a rural canton.

For statistical purposes, the twenty arrondissements of Paris — the administrative subdivision there — are sometimes considered as cantons, but they serve no electoral function in that city.

Cantons also form legal districts as seats of Courts of First Instance. Historically the cantons are called justices de paix — or "district courts".

[edit] 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).

They were at first grouped into what were called districts but after the latter were abolished in 1800 they were organized into arrondissements.

Their number was drastically reduced (between 30 and 50) by the Loi du 8 pluviôse an IX (January 28, 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 departmental prefects were told by the government to group the communes within newly established cantons. The départemental lists, once approved by the government, were published in the Bulletin des Lois in 1801 and 1802; they are the base of the administrative divisions of France still in place today.

Since that time, cantons with small populations have been eliminated and new ones have been created in regions of strong growth.

[edit] Statistics

The number of cantons varies from one department to another; the Territoire de Belfort, for example, has 15, while Nord has 79. The island of Mayotte, which has an administrative form similar to that of a department, is divided into 19 cantons.