Décision du Conseil d'État
Decision of the Council of State of 19 May 1893.
In the name of the French people,
The Council of State in charge of Complaints,
On the Report from the Complaints Section,
In view of the short petition and the ample report presented by the Board of Directors of the Calvet Museum in Avignon, with regard to the legal proceedings and diligences of the executors and Directors in exercise, the afore-mentioned petition and report registered by the Complaints Secretariat of the Council of State on 12 February and 15 April 1891 and requesting that, owing to an abuse of power, the Board wishes to cancel two decisions dating from 5 December 1890, in which the Prefect of the Department of Vaucluse retired the Museum’s Curator and appointed his successor;
For this, it is considered that the library and Museum bequeathed by François Calvet to the City of Avignon in his will of 10 January 1810 are, for their administration, subject to specific rules established by the wishes of the testator; that he entrusted care to a Council comprising three executors, appointed by himself, responsible for their own recruitment, and five board members, appointed by the Municipal Council; that the rules for the Museum drawn up by the Council of State on 19 March 1823, in accordance with the apparent wishes of the testator, explains that the choice of Curator is the decision of the Mayor, unless approved by the Prefect, from a list of three candidates presented by the Board and that, in the event of negligence or abuse on his part, the Board may suspend him and request that his contract be revoked; that through the decisions being disputed, the Prefect, on the one hand, announced the immediate removal of the former Curator, without this measure having been requested by the Board and, on the other hand, he appointed a successor, without the Board having been called upon to make the presentations required by the ruling and, as a result, this double failing represents an abuse of power;
Concerning the decisions being disputed;
In view of the observations presented by the Minister for the Interior in response to the communication given to him on appeal, the afore-mentioned observations, recorded on 26 November 1891, favouring a rejection of the appeal on the basis that it is not admissible, with the Museum’s Board of Directors not being authorised to introduce it, since, according to the terms of the ruling made by the Council of State, the exercise of both active and passive initiatives is the role of the Municipal Council and that, fundamentally, the decisions being disputed were taken by the Prefect in virtue of the powers accorded to him by the decree of the 25 March 1852, in which, in article 5, he was given the right to appoint and revoke Curators at City Museums; furthermore, this only concerns the Curator from the Municipal Museum and the fact that the collections from the Calvet bequest have been combined with the books and collections belonging to the Municipality, will not serve as an obstacle to the rights of the Prefect with regards to the Curator;
In view of the report, which replies, in the name of the Board of Directors of the Calvet Museum, registered on 23 June 1892, and in which it declares that it persists in its conclusions through the motives that the appeal formulated is admissible; that it is, effectively, impossible to deny a legal body the right to attempt an action in view of ensuring the respect for its prerogatives, which are unknown to the other authority, and that the ruling of the Council of State, which returns to the Municipal Council the exercise of active and passive initiatives, only had the intention of developing actions of interest for the establishment’s heritage; that the appeal is basically equally justified; that, on the one hand, the decree of 1852 had no other object than to transfer to the Prefects, the right to appoint the Curators of Municipal Museums and Libraries, the choice of which was the responsibility of the Minister for Public Instruction, in accordance with the ruling of 23 March 1839; that it was unable to accord to the Prefect of Vaucluse, with regard to the Curator of the Calvet Museum, a right which had not been accorded previously to the Minister, since this Museum is a special type of foundation, subject to special rules outlined in the ruling drawn up by the Council of State to ensure the respect for the wishes of the founder; that, on the other hand, it is untrue to affirm that the collections from the Calvet bequest are, today, combined with those of the Municipal Library and form part of it; that this confusion had been forbidden by Calvet’s will and that the Municipality, in order to resolve this prohibition and avoid the cost of appointing two Curators, donated its own library to the Calvet Museum and that this donation has not modified the rules to which the Calvet Foundation is subject;
In view of the observations presented by the Minister for the Interior, in reply to the communications which were given to him on appeal, the afore-mentioned observations registered on 13 February 1892, and, with which, he refers to the opinion of the Minister for Public Instruction;
In view of the handwritten will of Esprit-Claude-François Calvet, dating from 10 January 1810;
In view of the decision of Avignon Municipal Council of 4 August 1810, requesting the authorisation to accept and benefit from the measures outlined in this will;
In view of the decree of 9 April 1811, authorising the Municipality to accept, at the cost and conditions outlined in this will;
In view of the rules of the Calvet Museum, approved by the Council of State at the sessions of 19 March 1823, 26 August 1831 and 7 March 1832;
In view of the other documents produced to accompany the dossier;
In view of the law of 7-14 October 1790 and the law of 24 May 1872;
In view of the decision of the King of the 2-27 July 1839;
In view of the decree of 25 March 1852;
Heard by Mr Labiche, Master in Chambers in his report;
Heard by Mme Chauffard, lawyer for the administration of the Calvet Museum in her observations;
Heard by Mr Levavasseur de Précourt, Master in Chambers, Government Commissioner in his conclusions;
On the means taken as a result of the default quality of the petitioners:
Considering that the petitioners, some of whom are executors chosen as a result of the conditions outlined in the will of Calvet, and the others, appointed by the Municipal Council of Avignon, in accordance with the clauses and conditions of this will, in order to undertake, in collaboration with the first, the administration of the property bequeathed to the City, have the duty, because of the functions with which they are entrusted, to take legal action to ensure that the conditions of the will, with which they are entrusted are carried out;
Essentially:
Considering that, as a result of the conditions of the will of Calvet, which were approved by the decree of 9 April 1811, combined with the decision of the Minister for the Interior of 25 April 1823, concerning the regulations for the Calvet Museum, the Council of State understands that this establishment is independent and subject to specific rules; - that, therefore, it may not be assimilated to a Municipal Museum according to the conditions of the decree of 25 March 1852 article 5 § 11, and that the rules established by this text will not apply to it;
Considering that, according to the special conditions governing the Calvet Museum, the Curator may only be appointed by the Mayor, from a list of candidates drawn up by the establishment’s Board of Directors, and revoked by him, on request of this Board; - that, since then, the Prefect of Vaucluse, by taking, without the intervention of the afore-mentioned Board, in application of the decree of 25 March 1852, the decisions under consideration, concerning the forced retirement of the Curator and the appointment of his successor, exceeded the limit of his powers and that the decisions should be cancelled;
Decide:
Article 1
The decisions under consideration are cancelled.
Article 2
Notice of the present decision will be forwarded to the Minister for Public Instruction and the Minister for the Interior.
Decided upon in the session of 12 May 1893, in the presence of: MM. Berger, President of the Complaints section, presiding; Coulon, Section President; Braun, Chante-Grellet, Schnerb, Marguerie, Mayniel, Rear Admiral Miet, Herbette, de Rouville, Bonthoux, Lagarde, State Councillors, and Labiche, Master of Petitions, reporter.
Read in the public session of 19 May 1893.
The President of the Complaints section,
Signed: Berger.
The Master of Petitions, reporter,
Signed: Labiche.
The Secretary of Complaints,
Signed: J. Darnault.
The Republic instructs and orders the Minister for Public Instruction and the Minister for the Interior, each of which are concerned by them, and all the bailiffs to this petition, for what concerns the course of common law against private parties, to proceed with carrying out the present decision.
For dispatch in accordance with the original registered in Paris on 30 May 1893, F 13 C° 3, by Trannoy, who received thirty-seven and a half francs and, ten and a half francs, thirty-eight centimes.
The Secretary of Complaints for the Council of State,
Signed: J. Darnault.
