A French judge questioned former President Jacques Chirac for more than 4 hours yesterday in an investigation into a party financing scandal that dates to his time as mayor of Paris, his lawyer said.

It was the first time a French president has undergone questioning under such conditions, and marks a sobering point in Chirac's four-decade political career.

The party financing investigation is the most potent of a string of potential legal problems the 74-year-old Chirac faces now that he no longer has presidential immunity. It remains unclear whether Chirac, who turned over power to Nicolas Sarkozy in May, will ever be tried in this or other legal cases implicating him.