least ten years performed compensated duties in the administrative or judicial departments, or have been for the same period a member of a conseil général or mayoralty. Their duties are incompatible with other public employment or the exercise of a profession. The meeting of the Conseil for the consideration of contested matters are public. After hearing the report on the matter at issue, made by one of the counsellors, the parties are permitted to be heard either in person or by their representative. The deliberation is in secret but the decision is made public. An appeal lies in all contested matters to the Conseil d'Etat; and by law certain articles of the Code of Procedure relating to procedure are made applicable to the Conseils de Préfecture. An affair that recently came before the French Courts affords an example of the judicial functions of the Conseil de Préfecture. One of the public thoroughfares of Paris had long been in a state of upheaval, caused by a railway laying its electric cables. One evening a woman fell into an excavation on the sidewalk and broke her leg. She sued the railway company before the civil Court, which pronounced itself competent, but on appeal this judgment was reversed, the Cour d'Appel holding that the civil Courts were not competent, and consequently sent the matter before the Conseil de Préfecture.

The Tribunal de Commerce is the great commercial Court, the Judges of which, like the officials of the Conseil des Prudhommes, being the only elected judicial officers in the Republic. The Court is not founded on a strictly legal basis that is, the Judges are not lawyers trained in the profession-but industrial, commercial, and business men. It is a speedy and practical tribunal for the determination of business and commercial disputes, and consequently has become one of the most influential and potent tribunals in France. It can well be described as the people's Court, composed of and by the people, and presided over by Judges of their own choice. All the members of the Tribunal de Commerce, including the president, Judges, and assistant Judges, are elected directly by a body of electors, and must receive a majority at least equal to a quarter of the registered voters. The Judges must be 30 years of age, and have been engaged in French commerce in the arrondissement, where they reside, for at least five years. The president is elected from those who have

performed the duties of Judge for two years, and the Judges are chosen from those who have served as assistant Judges, the term of all Judges being two years.

One of the most interesting tribunals in France is the Conseil des Prudhommes. It is, perhaps, the most artfully devised and democratic Court in the world, for the reason, that besides being composed of elected officials, it is so constituted as to avoid the possibility of a dispute being judged except by a representative body composed of an equal number of partisans affiliated in position and occupation with each of the parties. It is the Court of the factory and the workshop-of the contractor, the builder, the workman, the artisan, the mechanic, the merchant, the tradesman, and the clerk. The toilers, by day and by night, and their masters, come face to face before this simple tribunal and receive equal treatment, according to their own ideas of justice, which, although they may at times appear crude, are, however, tempered with as much equity and impartiality as elsewhere.

The Conseil des Prudhommes is a tribunal having jurisdiction over questions of wages and employment arising in commerce and industry, between patrons or their representatives, and employees, workmen, and apprentices of either sex. Its main purpose is to afford the patron and working man a speedy and inexpensive means of adjusting their difference in conciliation, and in the event of failure, by an immediate judgment. The tribunal comprises a Bureau de Conciliation and a Bureau de Jugement. The Bureau de Conciliation is composed of a workman, an employee, and a patron, the foundation and theory on which the tribunal is established resting on the mixed composition of the councillors, so that ab olute impartiality shall prevail, and equality of justice be assured between the parties. The Bureau de Conciliation is presided over by one of the three members, who is chosen alternately from the patrons, employees, or workmen. Its sessions must be held at least once a week, and they are not open to the public. The Bureau de Jugement, as it is called, always consists of an equal number of patrons and of employees or workmen; never less than two patrons and two employees or workmen, one of whom is the president or vice-president of the Conseil des Prudhommes, who preside alternately. Judgment is rendered by the majority of those

present, and in case of an equal division-of their standing two to two-the affair is put over to be heard by the same tribunal at the earliest day possible, when the Justice of the Peace of the arrondissement, or canton, presides, thus making a tribunal composed of five individuals, and as the Justice of the peace is neither a patron, employee, or workman, in this way that perfect evenness and equality between the capitalist and the working man is maintained, which all the way through is the one predominating feature of this labour Court. The Bureau de Jugement is open to the public. There is only one Conseil des Prudhommes for each city, but the conseil can be divided into sections, each of which is autonomous. The Conseil's jurisdiction in matters between patron and employee is limited to 1,000 francs, but between patron and workman it is unlimited; and where the amount is under 300 francs no appeal lies. Appeals to the Civil Tribunal must be disposed of by that Court within three months from, notice of appeal. The procedure before the Conseil des Prudhommes is simple, quick and inexpensive. It is in truth the poor man's Court. The notice for conciliation is by simple letter. The notice to appear before the Bureau de Jugement is by registered letter, or by notice served by a marshal; and in both cases one clear day must intervene between the day of service and the hearing. In cases of 20 francs and under, the usual recording and registration fees are not required.

The last, but by no means the most insignificant Court of the French judicial system, is that of the Justice de Paix, or Court of the Justice of the Peace. There is a Judge de Paix for every canton, and in cities one for each arrondissement. They have jurisdiction ordinarily up to 600 francs, and in exceptional cases up to 1,500 francs. The authority of these inferior Courts becomes apparent when it is realized that no appeal lies from their judgment. in matters involving less than 300 francs, and that they often decide questions of equity in which their determinations are final. This conclusive character of the judg ment of the Judge de Paix in the great majority of cases, gives to them an importance and infallibility not enjoyed by superior tribunals-they know that most of their decisions cannot be reversed.

C. A. HERESHOFF BARTLETT.

V. THE FRENCH JUDICIAL SYSTEM.

PART II-CRIMINAL.

The criminal Courts in France are the Tribunal de Simple Police, Tribunal Correctionnel, Cour d'Assises, Cour de Cassation and Haute Cour de Justice. The Tribunal de Simple Police has jurisdiction over petty offences not involving over fifteen francs fine or five days' imprisonment. The Tribunal Correctionnel is the chamber of the Tribunal de Première Instance set aside and exclusively devoted to the hearing of misdemeanours and appeals from the Tribunal de Simple Police, its original jurisdiction involving offences punishable by over fifteen francs fine and over five days' imprisonment. The Cour d'Assises has jurisdiction over crimes triable by a jury-felonies-where the prisoner has been indicted. The Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation is an appellate tribunal. Finally there is the Haute Cour de Justice, or High Court of Justice, which is a rare and exceptional tribunal of criminal jurisdiction. It is com posed of the Senate convened by decree of the President. of the Republic as a High Court of Justice. The President selects a magistrate from the members of the Cour de Cassation or Cour d'Appel, who is charged with the duties of an Attorney-General before the Court, and one or more magistrates to assist him. It is an instance of a legislative body being transformed into a judicial body, and in some respects it resembles a Court of impeachment, as it is empowered to try the President of the Republic and the Ministers for crimes committed in the exercise of their functions. But its jurisdiction is not limited in this respect, as the Senate, on being convened as a High Court of Justice by decree, is empowered to try those accused of attempts against the safety of the State, which is practically high treason. Ordinarily these offences, especially when they do not assume an important political character, are disposed of by the ordinary tribunals, the Senate only being convened as a High Court of Justice under extraordinary circumstances; as, for instance, when it tried General Boulanger.

One of the fundamental distinctions in French criminal procedure is the separation between the preliminary investigation and proof of an offence and its prosecution. The first

is a matter that rests almost entirely with the Juge d'Instruction, who is in no way a prosecuting officer, and who possesses no authority to do more than to collect, obtain and prepare in judicial form the evidence of a crime. Once the evidence has been completed, the prosecution of the accused rests entirely with the administrative part of the Government, that is to say, the public prosecutor, or procureur de la république. While keeping this distinction in mind, it is refreshing to see with what ease and facility these two officials, following distinct and separate lines of work, yet labour in entire accord and sympathy. The Juge d'Instruction is absolute master in the preparation of the evidence and documents relating to the affair, in the same way that the public prosecutor—once the matter has passed into his hands-assumes sole and absolute control thereof.

What is known as the judicial police (police judiciare) forms an important feature of the French Criminal Judicial System. The authority of some of these officers resembles in many respects that of ordinary police or committing magistrates, and yet they possess far greater power and independence in so far as the securing of evidence, the reconstitution. of a crime, the preparation of the case, and the prosecution of the charge against the accused is concerned. The judicial police include the commissaires de police, officers of gendarmerie, mayors and their deputies, prosecuting officers, justices of the peace and Juges d'Instruction. The latter form by far the most important of these officials. On, the shoulders of the Juge d'Instruction is really thrown the brunt and labour of the administration of the criminal law. His functions. and duty are unique. There is at least one for every arrondissement appointed for three years by the President of the Republic from among those holding the title of Judge or from among the assistant or deputy Judges. On the commission of a crime the Juge d'Instruction, either on his own initiative or on that of the prosecuting officer, hastens to the scene and makes a personal examination, using all the ability and astuteness of a skilled detective in bringing to light the details of the affair; and in this way some of the Juges d'Instruction have become famous owing to their cleverness and adroitness in bringing to justice those guilty of the most abominable but apparently unfathomable crimes. The Juge d'Instruction works, however, in strict harmony with the public prosecutor, who usually accompanies him in constating a crime; and