Conseil d'Etat : Judgment No 320796/2011

Separation of church and state – Places of worship – State support for religion – Law providing for separation of church and state prohibiting state subsidy of any cult and prohibiting financing of any association bearing costs of maintenance of any place of worship not owned by state at date of separation of church and state – Later law empowering local authorities to grant long lease in public interest – Town council granting long-lease for parcel of communal land to federation of Muslim associations for building of mosque – Rent amounting to one euro per annum – Claimant, member of town council, challenging grant of lease – Whether lease violating doctrine of separation of church and state – Whether derogation justified – Whether peppercorn rent constituting disguised subsidy of religion – Law of 9 December 1905 on the Separation of Churches and State, arts 1, 2, 13, 19 – General Code of Local Public Entities, art L. 1311-2 – Rural Code, art L.451-1.