Key facts of the case - The town council of Montiers had decided to install a crib on the village’s main square for the Christmas time 2008. An inhabitant of the town, Mr Claude D. lodged an appeal with the administrative Court of Amiens to repeal the town council deliberation.

Main reasoning of the court - The Court first refers to Article 1 of the 1958 Constitution (laïcité of the Republic), to Article 1 of the December 9^th, 1905 Act on the Separation between Church and State, related to the freedom of religion and to Article 28 of the same Act, which provides that the displaying of religious signs and emblems on public monuments and spaces is forbidden.
According to the administrative Court, it results from the combination of those provisions that the displaying of religious emblem in a public site is in breach of the freedom of conscience guaranteed to each citizen and of the public service neutrality towards the religious denominations, whatever they are.
In the case at hand, the crib showed Mary and Joseph and then baby Jesus. This constituted a religious emblem from the Christian religion. Accordingly, the deliberation infringed Article 28 provisions and the applicant is founded to claim the repealing of the town council deliberation.

See the decision: Administrative Court of Amiens, Mr Claude D., 2010-11-16, n. 0803521.