In a decision dated December 29, 1995, the Conseil d'Etat (Supreme Administrative Court) precised the scope of its control in respect of abuses of law. The Court has indeed not restricted itself to checking for possible errors in law committed by the judge on the substantive issues, but also controlled the legal consequences drawn by said judge. It thereby adopted a similar position to that of the Cour de cassation (Supreme Court). This particular case concerned the rental of buildings granted by a real estate partnership to an individual, which constituted an abuse of law according to the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal, in view of the fact that its sole purpose was to gain a tax advantage (i.e. to enable the partnership to deduct its property losses). One of the principal factors on which the Court based its decision was that the rents paid were unusually low given the purchase price. The Conseil d'Etat rejected this, as, in its view, given the absence of zero or negligible rents, the facts submitted to the Court were inadequate to establish that the rental agreement was fictitious.
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