Les prérogatives de l’affectataire cultuel : étendue et limites

• Main Author: Frédéric Dieu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Presses universitaires de Strasbourg 2016-11-01
• Series: Revue du Droit des Religions
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rdr/950

The common law of public ownership provides the public authorities and local government with wide powers to use their public domain. In contrast, it strictly limits the rights of the occupant whose occupancy, precisely, is precarious. The situation is quite different as regards church buildings built before the 1905 Act of Separation, namely worship buildings belonging to public entities (mostly, towns and the State). In order to ensure freedom of worship, religious authority enjoys prerogatives and rights which go far beyond those granted to the occupant of ordinary buildings. This article focuses on the nature and extent of these rights. It also endeavours to show how the public owner of church buildings may use them for its own ends.