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Comment by nazka | Hacker News Reader

We can be proud of that. In France we have a great justice. And not only for criminal cases but also in other fields like for instance for the business law. On top of that the Supreme Court of France always has and acts with a sharp ethics definition.

> In France it's illegal to imply someone is guilty until they were proven guilty. That's what hurt so much the ethics of French people when pictures of DSK in handcuffs were shown before the trial.

Plus you have 2 independent criminal investigations. One against you and one for you. Everything done by the police. Where in the US you have only one Against you and you have to prove that you are innocent by yourself (so by paying private investigators).

But if only we would have the spirit of entrepreneurship from the SV. And I am not even talking about the open source, the technologies, or the engineers freedom to innovate: an innovation starting right from the bottom...

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>Plus you have 2 independent criminal investigations. One against you and one for you. Everything done by the police. Where in the US you have only one Against you and you have to prove that you are innocent by yourself (so by paying private investigators).

Omg srsly? We need this... right now.

Actually, it's not exactly two investigations. In criminal cases, if you face at least 10 years in jail, the investigation is not headed by the prosecution or the police, it's a special judge, who's actually a sitting independent judge. And his job is to head an investigation, seeking both proofs for you or against you (with the help of the police, who executes his orders and requests), and then presenting everything to the prosecution and the defense lawyers before going into trial. So because his job is not to convict you, like the prosecution, his investigation is actually much more neutral, with some exceptions.

It's quite a good system in theory, but it has some quirks.

> We can be proud of that

Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows? http://hany.rashwan.com/good-thing-bad-thing-who-knows Let's say we currently have an optimist faith in our system.

> if only we would have the spirit of entrepreneurship from the SV

Out of scope here - but you tickle my most favourite topic: I don't believe Frenches are unentrepreneurs by nature, but we can discuss it on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7088467

> Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows? http://hany.rashwan.com/good-thing-bad-thing-who-knows Let's say we currently have an optimist faith in our system.

Yes it reminds me this : http://youtu.be/B2L1-TgfKb4 But I said it because I know French lawyers and judges. And I know the basics of the French business law with jurisprudence cases.

> Out of scope here.

Yes out of scope. I didn't see this post but I just wanted to show pros and cons between the US and France.

There is a community but it's small. People here see companies as something being big. It is more about management, hierarchy, and to start from the bottom by having a career. The company spirit is dominated by styles like Oracle, Microsoft, IBM or HP. Even in a small company you find this spirit rather than a startup spirit like you have in the SV.

I (someone from Ireland) keep hearing the French police are pretty strict though, and you don't want to mess with them.

Maybe it's the Irish cultural thing of not taking many things seriously which applies mostly to police as well.

Yes but fortunately it is only with policemen who give tickets in the streets, roads...

Yes that it was it. The French road police. Here's a blog post from the Irish AA about driving in France: http://www.theaa.ie/AA/Ezine/AA-Ezine-May-2013/Driving-in-Fr...

Even so people who are used to dealing with a sympathetic Irish Garda [Police force] are in for a rude surprise if they expect the same in France. Local police can be extremely unsympathetic and they make no allowance for visiting tourists.

The same can be said about pretty much any country. This article is an opinion and isn't backed by examples or facts. If anything to be said about French roads, we have automated speed controls and it's a heavy burden on our lower-wealth population.

I wouldn't imagine a police force with a reputation to be lenient. Is it like this for the Irish Guarda? Do they still succeed in keeping the death rates low?

This article is an opinion and isn't backed by examples or facts

Yes it's an opinion piece. But it's an opinion piece from a large motorist organisation, which gives information about motoring and travelling. France is very close to Ireland and many people travel there, so their recommendations are probably true.

Do they still succeed in keeping the death rates low?

Yes. We have had a massive reduction in deaths on the roads in the last few years, down to 162 in 2012[1], down from about 415 in 2000[2]. The Wikipedia list of road deaths per year[3] also shows Ireland scoring lower than France for various road death metrics

[1] http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/Our-Research/Deaths-injuri... [2] http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=10717&Lang=1 [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-re...

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