Why do the French love so many rules?

The French attitude to rules

The French love beaurocracy, regulations and forms in triplicate. This is not to suggest that they love rules, but when such a large percentage of the population works for the government or civil service, the national railways or the post office, they spend a lot of time writing them.

English people are confused by this. Where there is an extensive rule book, they will consult a lawyer to get the writing analysed and find out what it means for them. The French lawyers like the English attitude; it helps them maintain a comfortable lifestyle. If you ask a lawyer to put the legal terms into understandable English they will naturally only work on the passages that you select, rather than on what might apply.

The English assume that with so many rules to live by, French society is more organized and more orderly. This too is a mistake. What the French have is an internal filter, which acknowledges the need for rules, for tax, for health and safety, for government, while allowing a bypass system to operate.

This is how the bypass system works; the French know that with all this red tape, someone will check up, so there is a need for a percentage of the rules to be followed. Perhaps something like 50% of the time, or the 50% that might be visible to someone making a cursory check.

So all artisans have a system for invoicing, collecting fees, reporting income. This is just for the 50% of their income, which they allow to be taxed. It is a generous gesture; they feel, to allow 50% of their finances to be scrutinized. The rest is in cash; this pays for meals at restaurants, petrol and shopping, obviously.

The bypass system is actually an evolution of the church system of control that preceded state control. The church required a percentage of your income, and attendance at mass every Sunday, and more often in Lent. There was confession and Lent to allow for sinners and rule breakers to open up a bit about what was really going on, and the priests found this information fascinating. However they were equally fascinated by young boys singing with pure voices, and wearing long red dresses. So the Church never collected exactly 10%, or achieved 100% congregation attendance, but no matter. There was always enough faith for the church to be built at the centre of town, before building the town council offices.

Now the state doesn’t expect 100% attendance to the rules either. State officials are more interested in their personal allowances, which get them first class travel tickets, the best hotels, the best restaurants, and the best homes.

Lowly civil servants look at their bosses’ lifestyle with envy and try hard to emulate them, which feeds the corrupt system with more rule bending and breaking.

This all explains why yesterday we took an hour long walk in the most scenic countryside next to an old chateau 3km from Céret. There was a big notice in triplicate explaining that it was private property, and access was forbidden, under statute 311.1 of the penal code. Not only did we take no notice of this at all, but we collected some really nice pieces of vine cuttings. For Jane’s art students to draw, or possibly for her fire. This is needed for enjoyment of life, for which some rules must be broken.