Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/873

 JUSTICE AND CRIME

517

Justice and Crime.

The Courts of First Instance in France are those of the Justices of Peace who try civil cases and act also as judges of Police Courts, where all petty offences are disposed of. In criminal cases the Police Correctional Courts pronounce upon all graver -cases of misdemeanour (delits), including cases involving imprison- ment up to 5 years. They have no jury, and consist of 3 judges belonging to the civil tribunals. In all general cases,, the pre- liminary inquiry is made in secrecy by an examining magistrate (juge d'i7istructio7i), who, acting under the public ministry {Pro- cureur), may dismiss the case or send it for trial. The Court of Assizes is assisted by 12 jurors, who decide by simple majority on the fact with respect to crimes involving a severe penalty. The highest courts are the 26 Courts of Appeal, composed each of one President and 4 Councillors for all criminal cases which have been tried without a jury, and by one Court of Cassation which sits at Paris, and is composed of a First President, 3 Presidents of Sections, and 45 Councillors, for all criminal cases tried by jury. For civil cases there is, under the Justice of Peace, in each arrondissement, a civil tribunal of tirst instance, then the Appeal Courts and Courts of Cassation. For commercial cases there are Tribunals of Commerce and Councils of experts {jyrudliommes). All Judges are nominated by the President of the Republic. They can be removed only by a decision of the Court of Cas- sation constituted as the Conseil Sujyerieur of the magistracy.

The agencies for the prosecution of misdemeanours and crimes in 1895 appeared as follows: — Gendarmes, 19,936; commissaires de police, 1,154; agents de police, 15,145; gardes champetres, 32,618 ; private sworn 'gardes,' 42,842 ; forest gardes, 7,620 ; fishery police, 4,756 ; customs officials, 21,501.

The following table shows the number of persons convicted before the various courts in five years : —

Year

Assize Courts

Correctional Tribunals

Police Coirts

1890

1891

t 1892

1894

1895

2,918 2,933 2,945 2,795 2,372

211,731

216,908 230,060 225,466 221,234

- ' ''

447,273 1

447,203 436,601 448,474 398,723

The French penal institutions consist, first, of Houses of Arrest (3,094 chambrcs dc suret6 and 35 dep6ts dc sHrcte). Next come 380 Departmental Prisons, also styled ttiaisoiwi d'arrct, de justAo' and dc correctioiiy where lioth persons awaiting trial and those condemned to less than one year's im])rison- ment are kept, as also a number of boys and girls transferred from, or going to be transferred to, reformatories. The reformatories are 11 for boys and 3 for girls, lielonging to the State, and 12 for lx)ys and 7 for girls rented to private