This is a big step forward for undocumented people living in France. The Constitutional Council announced that foreigners not legally residing in France have the right to legal aid in the name of the principle of equality before justice, including in industrial tribunal and civil matters. The decision was published in the Official Journal on May 29.

By depriving these foreigners of the right to a lawyer to assert their rights in France, "the challenged provisions do not provide them with guarantees equal to those available to other litigants," the Constitutional Council said in a press release.

Legal aid in the French court that settles labor disputes and civil matters has, until now, only been made available to foreigners living in France legally.

Lawyer Xavier Courteille challenged that rule all the way to the highest court.

What is legal aid?

Legal aid is intended for people who wish to assert their rights before the courts but do not have the necessary financial means to hire a lawyer. The French state covers these expenses in whole or in part. People do not receive any money -- the state directly pays their lawyer, notary or expert fees.

To obtain that aid, you must apply online and be below a certain income threshold. You can see if you are eligible through online simulators.

Legal aid has been available since 1991 in criminal and foreigners' rights matters for non-French nationals living in the country legally.

Asylum seekers can benefit from it to defend themselves before the National Court of Asylum, unless the appeal is rejected. Obtaining aid is also conditional on proof of residence and not going above a certain income threshold.

But until now, undocumented people living in France did not have access to this aid, except in rare cases.

Lawyer Xavier Courteille first represented five plaintiffs in the case before the Constitutional Council. But it was ultimately three plaintiffs who made the decision possible, after one of the plaintiffs abandoned and another obtained legal aid exceptionally, Mediapart reported.

"A foreigner presenting a situation worthy of interest could exceptionally have access to legal aid. But on the same file, here of garbage collectors, only one out of the four was able to be entitled to it. This clearly illustrates the arbitrary nature of this exception,” the Council told Mediapart.