crimes; and are fubject to what is called peine afflictive ou infa

mante.

Each of thefe claffes of offences has a feparate order of tribunals, before which, all acts of that particular clafs are tried. For the trial of offences of the first order, the tribunal is called Tribunal de Police; for the fecond, Tribunal en Matiere Correctionelle; for the third, Cour d'Assises. The compofition of the two firft, it will be ufeful to ftate here: the nature of the last, it will be better to explain afterwards.

Functionaries, ftyled Juges de Paix, are the judges in the Tribunaux de Police, which are placed at fmall distances from each other over the whole furface of the empire; and the Maires of the municipalities have concurrent jurifdiction in moft cafes with these perfons.

The first order of the tribunals, in civil cafes, (Tribunaux Civils de premiere instance), are rendered alfo the Tribunaux en Matiere Correctionelle; and try all offences of the fecond order.

In the Tribunaux de Police, the inferior officers receive all informations and complaints relative to the first clafs of offences, of which they are bound to draw up an account in writing (procèsserbal), and to fend it, with all the documents relative to the affair, to the public officer or profecutor, at the Tribunal de Police, within three days at the lateft. In the Tribunaux en Matiere Correctionelle, the preliminary steps being in fubftance the fame with the mode purfued in regard to the laft and principal clafs of offences, we fhall pass it over; and proceed immediately to point out the fteps by which, in thefe higheft cafes, the fuppofed offender, with the evidence of his guilt, is fecured for the operations of the judge.

There are two officers to whom the principal fhare in this preJiminary bufinefs is entrulted: thefe are, the Procureur Imperial, and the Juge d'Instruction. The Procureur Imperial is the public profecutor at each tribunal; the Juge d'Instruction is the particular judge by whom the preliminary inveftigation is appointed to be taken; of which clafs of judges, one is ettablished in each Arrondissement Communal; two, where two are neceffary; and at Paris fix. They are nominated by the Emperor from among the judges of the Tribunal Civil; and continue in office for three years.

The proper duty of the Procureur is, to profecute all manner of crimes committed within his diftrict, and to take care that they receive judicial inveftigation. His bufinefs is, upon obtaining knowledge of any offence, to give notice of it to the Juge d' Instruc in, and require him to exaraine into the affair-to repair himself to the fpot-and to do whatever is neceflary for throwing light upon the offence, and for preventing the efcape of the offunder. The

Procureur

Procureur Imperial is held, in such a manner, responsible for the profecution of crimes, that the orator by whom the projet de loi was prefented to the legislative body, exprefsly fays, he may lay it down as a rule, that the Procureur Imperial must deferve reproach, wherefoever there is reafon to complain of frequent infractions of the focial order in the place where his functions are exercifed.'

In order to facilitate, as much as poffible, the communication of intelligence refpecting crimes, the Juges de Paix, the Officiers de Gendarmerie, the Commissaires de Police, the Maires, and the Adjoints de Maires, are all appointed to receive the informations and complaints of individuals, and to tranfmit them, without delay, to the Procureur Imperial.

The bufinefs of the Juge d'Instruction is to take the most accurate account, poflible, of the circumstances of the offence of which notice has reached him: and this he performs by bringing before him all perfons, as well as things, whom, from the proceedings of the Procureur, or the statements of the informer, he may suppose likely to throw light upon the affair. The inculpé, the alleged offender, if his offence is not of the third or highest order, is only cited to appear; if it is of the third order, he is commanded to be brought before the Juge d'Instruction.

The witneffes are to be examined upon oath, by the Juge d'Instruction, but separately, and not in prefence of the prefumed offender; their depofitions taken down in writing, and with the ufual precautions against alteration or forgery. Perfons under fifteen years of age, to be examined, but not upon oath. The inanimate subjects of evidence are to be infpected by the Juge d'instruction; and he is to go to the place where they are, if they are of fuch a nature as cannot, without great inconvenience, be brought to him.

The process of investigation having been gone through, and the inculpé himself, and the persons most nearly related to him, examined, the Juge d'Instruction, after hearing the prosecutor, and the prosecuted, may, if the alleged offence is of the most penal class, and the presumption afforded by the evidence is strong, order the now probable offender to be held in custody. This order is denominated mandat d'arrêt, or mandat de depôt. And, besides the ordinary precautions against the mischief, which is liable to be done under colour of legal imprisonment, the order must contain a statement of the fact on account of which the party is prosecuted, and a reference to the law by which the fact is rendered penal.

These orders are in force through the whole territory of France. When the offender is found without the limits of the jurisdiction

of the judge by whom the mandat was issued, the officer charged with the execution must first carry the person before the Juge de Pair of the place, though only for the purpose of proving the authenticity of the mandat with which he is charged.

The person against whom the mandat is issued, is conveyed to the house of custody (maison d'arrêt), either of the place where the judge who has issued it exercises his functions; or, if he has not so ordered, to the maison d'arrêt of the place where the inculpé was found.

In those cases, however, which are called cases of flagrant delit, additional officers, for the sake of rapid interference, are vested with authority to make preliminary investigations. Cases of flagrant delit are defined to be, when the offence is still in the act of being committed; or where it is very recently committed; or where the offender is pursued by clameur publique (hue and cry); or where he is caught with the instruments, or objects, or effects, &c. of his crime about him.-In such cases, the Procureur Imperial has also the power of preliminary investigation; and may, without waiting for the Juge d'Instruction, draw up an account, in writing, of the circumstances of the case, and take down the declarations of all persons who may know any thing relative to the affair, not excepting the nearest relations of the parties. The persons examined are requested to sign their declarations; and, if they refuse to do so, their refusal is mentioned in his report. He interrogates the presumed offender, who signs his own declaration, if he chooses; if not, mention of his refusal is inserted in the report. When it is presumed that indications of his guilt may be found in the house of the alleged offender, the Procureur must repair thither, make search for, and secure, for the purpose of evidence, whatever he deems capable of serving in that capacity. The articles, where it is practicable, are to be sealed up; where it is not, they are to be put into a box, or a bag, on which the Procureur is to fasten a bind of paper, and attach his seal. All this is to be done in the presence of the supposed offender, or of some one empowered by him; and the objects are to be presented to him to own, and aflix his name to them, if he chooses; if not, mention must, in the report, be made of his refusal. When the presumption afforded by the evidence is strong, the Procureur is to order the inculpé, if present, to be detained; if absent, to be taken into custody.

Where the Juge d'Instruction comes, his presence supersedes all other functions of the Procureur, saving those which belong to him as prosecutor merely. But when the investigation has been, as above, completed by himself, he is to transmit his report without delay, and all the documents connected with it, to this judge.

The Juge d'Instruction himself is, in cases of flagrant delit, to proceed, if necessary, without the presence of the Procureur Imperial, to whom, however, he must send notice; and as the knowledge of meditated crimes peculiarly qualifies the officers of administrative police to be serviceable, in cases of sudden emergency, the Prefets des Departements, and the Prefet de Police, at Paris, are vested with the power of performing in person, or of requiring the officers of police judiciaire, to perform the preliminary investigations, and all the acts therewith connected.

The first stage of the proceedings is now completed; the case is explored; all that can throw light upon it has been collected; and the presumed offender is secured for trial. But, who is to determine whether there is occasion for a trial or not? Is it the judge who has collected the evidence ?--No: For this purpose, there is, first, the Chambre du Conseil, which must contain three judges at the least, including the Juge d'Instruction. To them the Juge d'Instruction is bound to deliver a report, once a week at the least, of every case which has called upon him for investigation. If the judges of the Chambre du Conseil are unanimous in opinion that no crime has been committed, or that none but frivolous evidence is brought against the accused, they may decide, that there is no need for a trial, and order him to be set at liberty; subject, at the same time, to the remonstrance of the Procureur Imperial. If they find the offence to belong to the first or second order, they may send the offender to the Tribunal de Police, or to the Tribunal en Matiere Correctionelle, according as the case may be. If, however, so much as one of them deems the case meet for trial, as a case in the third order of offences, they are to transmit the reports, and all other documents belonging to the case, through the Procureur Imperial to the Cour Imperial.

It is

The functions of the Cour Imperial are as follows. Procureurgeneral is the name of the public prosecutor in this court. to him immediately that the documents are transmitted from the Chambre du Conseil. He is bound to place the affair en etat (as they express it), within five days after receiving the documents; and in five days more to make his report.

A section of the court called the Cour Imperial, specially formed for that duty, must assemble, once a week at the least, in the Chambre du Conseil, to hear the report of the Procureur-general, and must decide, within three days, whether the fact charged is a crime by law, and whether the proofs against the prisoner are sufficiently strong to make it proper to send him to trial.

They deliberate in sceret. When it appears to them necessary, they even order further inquiries, and call for the production of additional documents.

If they find either that no crime has been committed, or that no sufficient evidence is brought against the accused, they order him to be set at liberty. If they find that an offence of the first or second order only has been committed, they send him to the tribunals appointed to take cognizance of these offences. If the offence appear to be one of the third order, and the evidence such as to afford reasonable suspicions of his guilt, they pronounce the sentence which is called mise en accusation, (equivalent to the English finding of a true bill), and detain the prisoner for trial.

In all cases, the Cours Imperiales may, antecedently to their pronouncing the sentence of mise en accusation, appoint one of their judges to go again through the whole process of the preliminary investigation, for their satisfaction.

In all cases where the mise en accusation is pronounced, the Procureur-general must draw up an acte d'accusation, which must set forth, 1. the proper generic description of the offence which has been committed; 2. the special fact, and all the circumstances which tend to aggravate or extenuate its atrocity. It must name, and clearly designate, the accused; and it must be summed up with the following conclusion. "In consequence, A [the prisoner] is accused of having committed such or such a murder, such or such robbery, or other crime, with such or such circumstances." A copy of the sentence [of mise en accusation] with a copy of the acte d'accusation, must be given to the prisoner; and, within twenty-four hours, he must be removed from the Maison d'arrêt to the Maison de justice, attached to the court at which he is to be tried.

Such, then, is the mode of procedure in the two great sets of cases. In the lowest order of offences, the offender is left at large, till called upon to undergo the punishment which the judge may ordain. In the highest, the person of the supposed offender, as soon as the presumption of his guilt is supported by reasonable proofs, is retained in custody, as the only adequate security for his submitting himself to justice. But, besides these two orders of offences, there is evidently an intermediate ordertoo serious to admit of that unrestrained liberty which is left to the offender in the case of the slightest offences, but not of that weight and danger which is supposed to justify the imposition of so great a burthen as imprisonment in the higher. In the jurisprudence, accordingly, of all nations who can be said, from their state of civilization, to have a jurisprudence, cases of delinquency, more or less accurately defined, have been selected, in which some sort of pledge, less onerous than imprisonment, has been taken as secuity for a man's submitting himself to justice. The following, in

regard