ABSTRACT
All research on human remains raises ethical questions. When those questions relate to mass graves and are associated with emblematic events of national and European history, the subject is even more sensitive from the perspective of the public opinion and political leaders. The way the French law deals with the issue reflects how the society approaches the matter. Its
analysis will lead to exciting and various thinking, where human dignity, legislation and the creation of the European Union overlap with a common value: the respect for the dead and for the living. In the chapter on France (Michel et al., this volume), the authors presented the legislation
that rules the discovery and the study of human remains in France. In the present section we study a particular case: mass war graves. When the remains of a French soldier are found, what is their legal status? What happens when those remains are found outside French territory? What happens to the human remains of a foreign soldier found in France?
