Originally published in 1953, this was the first post-War study in either English or French of the institutions and law relating to French local government and on the practice of French local administration. It is a study in political science and therefore, although the basic laws governing local institutions are dealt with in some detail, the aim is to give a picture of those institutions at work in the middle of the 20th Century. The book assumes no prior knowledge of the subject and will be of interest to students of French government and comparative political institutions.