The People

Parties civiles

The “partie civile” is a specifically French status, permitting a person who is the victim of an offense to become a party in the case and to be represented by a lawyer. Only the person who actually suffered harm can be a “partie civile”.
If the victim engages an action civile (civil action) before a penal jurisdiction, the term used is constitution de partie civile (the victim applies to join proceedings as a civil party).