Available in Russian
Author: Roman Kolobov
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2026-2-59-77
Keywords: experimental legal regimes; France; Constitutional Council; Council of State; the principle of equality; healthcare
This paper examines the institution of experimental legal regimes as a mechanism for implementing evidence-based policy, offering an analysis of French regulatory experiences. It reviews general scientific approaches to experimental regulation, drawing on the works of R. Fisher, D. Campbell, J. Stanley, E. Duflo, and A. Banerjee. Particular focus is placed on the reception of the J-PAL Laboratory’s methodologies within French institutions, which shifted the discourse on legal experimentation from political assumptions to rigorous mathematical and empirical justification. The study traces the historical development of this institution in France, specifically addressing the resistance to social experimentation rooted in the Jacobin concept of a “single and indivisible Republic” and Rousseau’s “general will.” Furthermore, it explores the role of the French Constitutional Council and Council of State in establishing criteria that allow for temporary deviations from the principle of equality, subject to mandatory evaluation of pilot project results. The gradual integration of experimental principles into social regulation is illustrated through the Veil Law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, the application of criminal procedure in overseas territories, and higher education management. Special attention is paid to the 2003 constitutional reform, which enshrined the right to use experimental legal regimes in the French Constitution. The article provides a detailed analysis of the regulatory framework under Article 37.1, using specific case studies to identify both successful and failed implementation practices. The study concludes that the French model of experimental legal regulation constitutes a legally structured mechanism for testing new governance solutions, combining normative flexibility with constitutional safeguards. The author argues that the system’s effectiveness is bolstered by specialized administrative “entry points” like “France Experimentation”, which ensure that successful pilots are integrated into the national legal framework through a structured generalization process. The research demonstrates that the admissibility of such regimes depends on their limited subject matter and duration, the existence of a legitimate public purpose, compliance with the principle of equality, and the mandatory subsequent evaluation of results.
About the author: Roman Kolobov – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Leading Research Fellow, Laboratory of Legal Research of High-Tech Industries, A. E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute of Chemistry, Irkutsk, Russia.
Citation: Kolobov R. (2026) Konstitutsionnye osnovy i praktika realizatsii eksperimental'nykh pravovykh rezhimov vo Frantsii [Constitutional foundations and practical implementation of experimental legal regimes in France]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 59–77. (In Russian).
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