Climbing ban in Rougon (Verdon) cancelled by Court

On July 31st, the mayor of the commune of Rougon (one of the 4 communes of the Grand Canyon of the Verdon) published a by-law (arrêté municipal) stating:

Owing to:

- article 544 of the Civil Code,

- the unanimous opinion of the municipal council,

Rock climbing is forbidden on the whole of the private domain of the commune, during all the year.


For information, in France the territorial collectivities (communes, départements, regions and even the State) own a public domain and a private domain. Public domain consists of all public things, like roads, public buildings, public gardens and parks, some main rivers and the coasts, up to the highest tides. Private domains are most forests, pastures, quarries, etc.

The article 544 of the Civil Code says that a landowner (or any owner of any object) has the right to use and dispose of the things and lands he owns in an absolute manner, unless this use is prohibited by laws or by-laws.

Thus, all the climbing (and climbed) rocks in Rougon are part of the private domain of the commune. One reason for that is that public domain must remain open to the public, unless very sophisticated procedures are made.

Therefore, the FFME and the FCAF (Federation of French Alpine Clubs) decided, together with 4 of their member associations, to contest this by-law and sue the mayor of Rougon for his decision. This action has been examined by the Tribunal Administratif of Marseilles (an administrative court who is competent to examine the decisions of administrations, mayors, prefects, etc.).

In addition to some formal irregularities, FCAF and FFME did contest the fact that these cliffs can be considered as the ``private property'' of a commune, since it has never been bought for a stated purpose but only transmitted to the commune centuries ago, when the laws were established by Napoléon. And if the court really considers the bare lands as a real private property, then the mayor makes a confusion between his rôle of communal police (i.e. a public function) and the management of the private property (i.e. not public) of the commune.

It is to be noted that such a by-law never happened before, so that the court's decision might be deferred until a decision of the Conseil d'État, the major French court invoked when the laws and the jurisprudence are empty in some subject.


By the way, one should know that Rougon only has 85 inhabitants, 200 in summer. These are either hunters, or owners of holiday houses (``résidences secondaires'' in French). Rougon has no commerces, except a café at the Point Sublime on the main road, which makes business only with tourists visiting the Gorges with car and busses. Therefore, climbing and hiking make local benefits in La Palud, Moustiers and Aiguines (the 3 other communes of the Verdon Gorge), but not in Rougon. Besides, the municipal council explicitly stated that they did not want to have climbers on their territory.

However, it can be read in the press and in various discussions, that the commune of Rougon would like to orient local tourism to observation of vultures, especially the Gyps fulvus which is being recently settled in the Verdon gorge, as it was reintroduced 20 years ago in the Tarn and Jonte gorges (département of Lozère).

Nevertheless, if this were the actual intention of the commune of Rougon, the biotope protection by-laws would be of the competence of the prefect, not the mayor. Notwithstanding this possibility, the FFME and the local club (Lei Lagramusas) will contact the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux (Bird protection league) of the Provence region, in order to establish a compromise which would be satisfactory for both parties.

In fact, the important issue in this conflict is not the eventual climbing ban, but the possible jurisprudential event that a mayor could take account of private property privileges to practically forbid any legal practice outside of public roads and trails on his territory, such as alpinism, mountaineering, off-path hiking, canyoning, etc.


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une collaboration COSIROC et www.kairn.com
© CoSiRoc [Taupin] dim 24-08-03