Page:The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.pdf/117

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Constitution of 1791
87

3. The tribunals cannot interfere in the exercise of the legislative power, nor suspend the execution of the laws, nor encroach upon the administrative functions, nor cite before them the administrators on account of their functions.

4. Citizens cannot be deprived of the judges whom the law assigns to them by any commission, nor by other attributions and evocations than those determined by the laws.

5. The right of citizens to terminate definitively their controversies by means of arbitration cannot' be impaired by the acts of the legislative power.

6. The ordinary tribunals cannot entertain any civil action unless it should be shown to them that the parties have appeared, or that the plaintiff has cited the adverse party before mediators, in order to obtain a conciliation.

7. There shall be one or several justices of the peace in the cantons and cities ; the number thereof shall be determined by the legislative power.

8. It belongs to the legislative power to regulate the number and the districts of the tribunals, and the number of the judges of which each tribunal shall be composed.

9. In criminal matters no citizen can be tried except upon an accusation received by the jurors or decreed by the legislative body, in the cases where the preferring of the accusation belongs to it.

After the accusation has been accepted, the facts shall be recognized and declared by the jurors.

The accused shall have the right to reject up to twenty of these without giving reasons.

The jurors who shall declare the facts shall not be less than twelve in number.

The application of the law shall be made by the judges.

The proceedings shall be public and the assistance of counsel shall not be refused to the accused.

No man acquitted by a legal jury can be taken again or accused on account of the same act.

10. No man can be seized except in order to be brought before the police officer; and no man can be put under arrest or detained, except in virtue of a warrant from police officers. an order of arrest from a tribunal, a decree of accusation of the legislative body, in case the decision belongs to it, or of