France: Penal Code of 1810Transcribed by Tom Holmberg
PENAL CODE. BOOK THE THIRD Of CRIMES and DELICTS, and of their PUNISHMENT. [Law decreed
TITLE II. Crimes and Delicts against Individuals. [Law decreed
CHAPTER I. Crimes and Delicts against the Person. SECTION I. Murder and other Capital Crimes,— Threats of Bodily Injury. § I. Murder,—Assassination,—Parricide,—Infanticide,—Poisoning. [The article Homicide occupies 25 pages of Mr. Evans's Book, and refers to 20 Acts of Parliament.] 295. HOMICIDE, committed wilfully, is denominated murder. 296. Every murder, committed with premeditation, or with lying in wait, is denominated assassination. 297. Premeditation consists in a design formed, before the action, of attacking the person of any particular individual, or even of any one who shall be found or met with, even though such design may be dependant upon some circumstance or condition. 298. Lying in wait (guet apens), consists in waiting, more or less time, in one or several places, for an individual, either to kill him, or exercise against him any act of violence. 299. The murder of fathers or mothers, legitimate, natural, or adoptive, or of any other legitimate ascendant, is denominated parricide. 300. The murder of a new born infant is denominated infanticide. 301. Every attempt upon the life of a person, by means of substances which may occasion death, more or less quickly, in whatever manner such substances may have been employed or administered, and whatever may have been the effects thereof, is denominated poisoning. 302. Every person guilty of assassination, parricide, infanticide, or poisoning, shall be punished with death; without prejudice to the special disposition contained in article 13, relative to parricide. 303. All malefactors, of whatever denomination, who, for the execution of their crimes, make use of tortures, or commit acts of barbarity, shall be punished as guilty of assassination. 304. Murder shall be punished with death, whenever it shall have preceded, accompanied, or followed any other crime or delict. In all other cases, the person guilty of murder shall be punished with perpetual hard labour. § II. Threats. 305. Whoever, by any writing, anonymous or signed, shall have threatened any one with assassination, poisoning, or any other personal attack, punishable with death, perpetual hard labour for time, in case such threat shall have been accompanied by any order to deposit a sum of money in any particular place, or to perform any other condition. 306. If such threat has not been accompanied by any order or condition, the penalty shall be an imprisonment of not less than two years, nor more than five years, and a fine of from 100 to 600 francs. 307. If such threat, with order, or upon condition, shall be made verbally, the criminal shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 25 to 300 francs. 308. In the cases provided for by the two preceding articles, the criminal may, moreover, be placed, by sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of high police, for not less than five years, nor more than ten years. § II. Wilful Wounds, and Blows, not amounting to Murder, and other wilful Crimes and Delicts. 309. Every individual, who shall have given any wounds or blows, shall be punished with solitary imprisonment, if there shall have resulted from such acts of violence, a sickness or inability to work, for more than twenty days. 310. If the crime, mentioned in the preceding article, has been committed with premeditation, or with lying in wait, the penalty shall be that of hard labour for time. 311. When the wounds or blows shall not have occasioned any sickness, or inability to work, of the kind mentioned in article 309, the offender shall be punished with an imprisonment of from one month to two years, and a fine of from 16 to 200 francs. If there has been premeditation, or lying in wait, the imprisonment shall be from two to five years, and the fine from 50 to 500 francs. 312. In the cases provided for by articles 309, 310, and 311, if the criminal has committed the crime against his father or mother, legitimate, natural, or adoptive, or other legitimate ascendants, he shall be punished as follows: If the article to which the case shall relate, pronounces imprisonment and fine, the guilty person shall undergo the penalty of solitary imprisonment; If the article pronounces the penalty of solitary imprisonment, he shall undergo that of hard labour for time; If the article pronounces the penalty of hard labour for time, he shall undergo that of perpetual hard labour. 313. If the crimes and delicts, provided for in the present and preceding sections, have been committed in a seditious assembly, with rebellion, or pillage, they are imputable to the chiefs, authors, instigators, and inciters of such assembly, rebellion, or pillage; who shall be punished as guilty of such crimes or delicts, and condemned to the same penalties as are awarded against those who have personally committed them. 314. Every individual who shall fabricate or sell, stilettoes, blunderbusses (tromblons), or any kind of arms, prohibited by law, or by the regularities of public administration, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to six months. Whoever shall be in possession of such arms, shall be punished with a fine of from 16 to 200 francs. In both cases, the arms shall be confiscation. All without prejudice to more severe penalties, mentioned in the preceding articles, the tribunals may direct the person convicted, to be placed under the special superintendence of the high police, for from two years to ten years. 315. Besides the correctional penalties, mentioned in the preceding articles, the tribunals may direct the person convicted, to be placed under the special superintendence of the high police, for from two years to ten years. 316. Every person, guilty of the crime of castration, shall undergo the penalty of perpetual hard labour. If death has resulted therefrom, before the expiration of forty days, next after the crime, the criminal shall undergo the penalty of death. 317. Whoever, by reason of substances to be swallowed, either solid or liquid; by medicines; by violence; or by any other means; shall have caused the miscarriage of a woman with child, whether she has consented to it or not, shall be punished with solitary imprisonment. The same penalty shall be awarded against the woman who shall have procured her own miscarriage, or shall have consented to make use of the means prescribed to her, or administered for that purpose, if the miscarriage has actually ensued therefrom. The physicians, surgeons, and other officers of health, who shall have prescribed or administered such means, shall be condemned to hard labour for time, if the miscarriage has actually taken place. 318. Whoever shall have sold adulterated liquors, containing mixtures prejudicial to health, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to two years, and a fine of from 16 to 500 francs. The adulterated liquors, which shall be found belonging to the vender or retailer, shall be seized and confiscated. SECTION III. Involuntary Homicide, Wounds and Blows;—Excusable Crimes and Delicts, and Cases not admitting Excuse (It will be seen, by the following articles, that the cases called excusable are not exempt from punishment, but the punishment is mitigated.),—Homicide, Wounds, and Blows, which are neither Crimes nor Delicts. §
319. Whoever, by unskilfulness, imprudence, heedlessness, negligence, or non-observance of rules, shall have been involuntarily the cause of it, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from three months to two years, and a fine of from 50 to 600 francs. 320. If only wounds or blows have resulted from such want of skill or caution, the imprisonment shall be from six days to two months, and the fine from 16 to 100 francs. § II. Excusable Crimes and Delicts, and Cases not admitting Excuse. 321. Murder, as well as wounds and blows, are excusable, if they have been provoked by blows, or grievous personal violence. 322. The crimes and delicts, mentioned in the preceding are likewise excusable, if they have been committed in repelling, by day-time, the scaling or breaking open of the inclosures, walls, or entries of a hose, or inhabited apartment, or of the appurtenances thereof. If the fact has happened in the night, this case is governed by article 329. 323. Parricide is never excusable. 324. Murder, committed by the husband, upon his wife, or by the wife, upon her husband, is not excusable, if the life of the husband or wife, who has committed such murder, has not been put in peril, at the very moment when the murder has taken place. Nevertheless, in the case of adultery, provide for by article 336, murder committed upon the wife as well as upon her accomplice, at the moment when the husband shall have caught them in the fact, in the house where the husband and wife dwell, is excusable. 325. The crime of castration, if it has been immediately provoked by a violent outrage to chastity, shall be considered as an excusable murder or wound. 326. When the fact of excuse shall be proved: If it be the case of a crime punishable with death, perpetual hard labour, or transportation, the penalty shall be reduced to an imprisonment, of from one year to five years; If it be the case of any other crime, the penalty shall be reduced to an imprisonment of from six months to two years; In these two first cases, the criminal may be placed, by the sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police, for not less than five years, nor more than ten years; If it be the case of a delict, the penalty shall be reduced to an imprisonment. Of from six days to six months. § III. Homicide, Wounds, and Blows, not denominated Crimes or Delicts. 327. There is neither crime nor delict, when the homicide, wounds, and blows, were ordained by the law, and commanded by lawful authority. 328. There is neither crime nor delict, when the homicide, wounds, and blows, were commanded by the actual necessity of lawful self-defence, or defence of another person. 329. The two following cases are reckoned among those of actual necessity of defence. 1st. If the homicide has been committed, the wounds occasioned, or the blows given, in repelling, during the night, the scaling or breaking open of the inclosures, walls, or entries, of a house or inhabited apartments, or of the appurtehances thereof. 2d. If the fact has taken place in self-defence, against the actors of thefts or robbery, committed with violence. SECTION IV. Attacks upon Morals. (This subject, and that of the 2nd paragraph of section VI. are provided for by 13 English Acts of Parliament, occupying as many pages of Mr. Evans's Book.) 330. Whoever shall commit any public outrage against modesty, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from three months to one year, and a fine of from 16 to 200 francs. 331. Who shall commit the crime of rape, or shall be guilty of any other attack upon the modesty, consummated or attempted, with violence, against an individual of either sex, shall be punished with solitary imprisonment. 332. If the crime has been committed upon the person of an infant, under the age of fifteen years complete, the criminal shall undergo the penalty of hard labour for time. 333. The penalty shall be perpetual hard labour, if the criminals are of the class of those who have authority over the persons upon whom they have made such attack; or if they are public officers, or ministers of worship; or if the criminal, whoever he may be, has been assisted in his crime by one or more other persons. 334. Whoever shall have attacked morals, by exciting, favouring, or facilitating, habitually, debauchery or corruption in the youth of both sexes, under the age of twenty-one years, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 50 to 500 francs. If the prostitution or corruption has been excited, favoured, and facilitated by their fathers, mothers, guardians, or other persons entrusted with their superintendence, the penalty shall be an imprisonment of from two to five years, and a fine of from 300 to 1,000 francs. 335. The persons guilty of the delict mentioned in the preceding article, shall be interdicted from all guardianship or trusteeship (tutelle ou euratelle), and from all participation in family councils; to wit, the individuals to who the first paragraph of that article applies, during not less than two years nor more than five years; and those mentioned in the second paragraph, during not less than ten years nor more than twenty years. If the delict has been committed by the father or mother, the criminal shall, moreover, be deprived of the rights and privileges, allowed to him, over the person and property of the child, by the Code Napoleon, Book I. Title IX. of the Parental Power. In all cases, the criminals may be placed, by the sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police; observing, as to the duration of the interdiction, mentioned in the present article. 336. The adultery of the wife cannot be denounced, except by the husband; nor by him, if he be in the case provided for by article 339. 337. The wife, convicted of adultery, shall undergo the penalty of imprisonment, during not less than three months, nor more than two years. The husband shall have the power of stopping the effect of this condemnation, by consenting to take his wife again. 338. The accomplice of the adulterous wife shall be punished with imprisonment, during the same space of time, and, moreover, with a fine of from 100 to 2,000 francs. The only proofs which can be admitted against the person charged as an accomplice, (except his being taken in the fact) shall be such as result from letters or other papers, written by the person accused. 339. The husband, who shall keep a concubine in the house, where he and his wife live, and who shall be convicted, upon the complaint of the wife, shall be punished with a fine of from 100 to 2,000 francs. 340. Whoever, being engaged in the bond of wedlock, shall contract a second marriage, before the dissolution of the preceding one, shall be punished with hard labour for time. The public officer, who shall perform his office in regard to such a marriage, knowing the existence of the preceding one, shall be condemned to the same penalty. SECTION V. Illegal Arrests, and Sequestrations of Persons. (This section corresponds to the Habeas Corpus Act.) 341. The penalty of hard labour for time shall be inflicted upon those who, without order from the constituted authorities, and out of the cases where the law directs the seizing of persons charged with offences, shall have arrested, detained, or sequestered any persons whomsoever. Whoever shall have afforded a place for the purpose of such detention or sequestration, shall undergo the same penalty. 342. If the detention or sequestration has lasted more than one month, the penalty shall be that of perpetual hard labour. 343. The penalty shall be reduced to an imprisonment of from two to five years, if the persons guilty of the delicts, mentioned in article 341, while not yet actually prosecuted, have set at liberty the person arrested, sequestered, or detained, before the tenth day complete, after that of the arrest, detention, or sequestration. They may, nevertheless, be placed under the superintendence of the high police, during from five to ten years. 344. In each of the three following cases: 1st. If the arrest has been executed with a false costume, under a false name, or upon a false order of the public authority; 2d. If the arrested, detained, or sequestered individual has been threatened with death; 3d. If he has been put to corporal tortures; The criminals shall be punished with death. SECTION VI. Crimes and Delicts tending to hinder or destroy the Proof of the civil State of a Child, or to endanger its Life;— Stealing of Minors;— Breach of the Laws respecting Interments. §. I. Crimes and Delicts towards Children. (One English Act of Parliament has recently passed, to punish the crime of child-stealing.) 345. The persons guilty of stealing, concealing, or suppressing a child; of substituting one child for another; or of imposing a child upon the world, as the offspring of a woman who has not been actually delivered; shall be punished with ordinary imprisonment. The same penalty shall be inflicted upon those who, being entrusted with a child, shall not produce it to the persons who have a right to claim it. 346. Every person who, having assisted at a delivery, shall not have made the declaration, directed by article 56, of the Code Napoleon (This declaration is to be made for the purpose of registering the child's birth.), within the time fixed by article 55, of the same Code (Three days.), shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to six months, and a fine of from 16 to 300 francs. 347. Every person who, having found a new-born child, shall not bring it to the officer of the civil state, as directed by article 58 of the Code Napoleon, shall be punished with the penalties established in the preceding article. The present disposition is not applicable to the person who shall have consented to take charge of the child, and shall have made his declaration in that behalf, before the municipality of the place where the child has been found. 348. Those who shall have taken to an hospital, a child under the age of seven years complete, which shall have been entrusted to them to be taken care of, or for any other cause, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six weeks to six months, and a fine of from 16 to 50 francs. Nevertheless, no penalty shall be awarded, if they were not bound, or had not obliged themselves, to provide, without pay, for the nurture and support of the child, and if nobody had made such provision. 349. Those who shall have exposed and abandoned, in a solitary place, a child under the age of seven years complete; those who shall have given the order so to expose it, if such order has been executed; shall, for this fact alone, be condemned to an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 16 to 200 francs. 350. The penalty, mentioned in the preceding article, shall be from two years to five years, and the fine from 50 to 400 francs, against the guardians or teachers of the child exposed and abandoned by them, or by their order. 351. If, in consequence of the exposure and abandonment, provided for by articles 349 and 350, the child has become mutilated or lamed, the act shall be considered as willful wounds given to it by the person who shall have exposed or abandoned it; and if death has ensued, the act shall be considered as murder: in the first case, the criminals shall undergo the penalty applicable to willful wounds; and in the second case, that of murder. 352. Those who shall have exposed or abandoned, in a place not solitary, a child under the age of seven years complete, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from three months to one year, and a fine of from 16 to 100 francs. 353. The delict, foreseen by the present article, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 25 to 200 francs, if it has been committed by the guardians or teachers of the child. §. II. Stealing of Minors. 354. Whoever, by fraud or violence, shall steal, or cause to be stolen, any minors; or shall spirit away, seduce or remove them, from the places where they were placed by those to whose authority or direction they had been submitted or entrusted, shall undergo the penalty of solitary imprisonment. 355. If the person, thus stolen or seduced, is a girl under the age of sixteen years complete, the penalty shall be that of hard labour for time. 356. When the girl, under the age of sixteen years shall have consented to such stealing, or shall have voluntarily followed the seducer, this latter, if he was twenty-one years of age or more, shall be condemned to hard labour for time. If the seducer was not twenty-one years of age, he shall be punished with an imprisonment of from two to five years. 357. In case the seducer shall have married the girl whom he has stolen, he can only be prosecuted, upon the complaint of those persons who, by the Code Napoleon, have the right of requiring such marriage to be declared void; and he can only be condemned when the marriage has been declared void. § III. Breaches of the Laws respecting Interments. 358. Those who shall cause a deceased person to be buried, without the previous authority of the public officer, in cases where such authority is required, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to two months, and a fine of from 16 to 50 francs; without prejudice to the prosecution of any other crimes with which the authors of this delict may be charged under such circumstances. The same penalty shall be inflicted upon those who shall contravene, in any manner whatever, the law and regulations relative to premature interments. 359. Whoever shall have concealed or hidden the corpse of a person murdered, or dead in consequence of blows and wounds, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 50 to 400 francs; without prejudice to more severe penalties, if he has taken part in the crime. 360. Whoever shall have been guilty of violating graves or burying-places, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from three months to one year, and a fine of from 16 to 200 francs; without prejudice to the penalties against the other crimes and delicts which may be connected with this one. SECTION VII. False Evidence, Calumny, Slander, and Disclosure of Secrets. §
361. Whoever shall be guilty of false evidence, in a criminal matter, either against the accused, or in his favour, shall be punished with the penalty of hard labour for time. Nevertheless, if the party accused has been condemned to a penalty more severe than that of hard labour for time, the false witness who has deposed against him, shall suffer the same penalty. 362. Whoever shall have been guilty of false evidence, in a correctional matter, or in a matter of police, either against the person charged, or in his favour, shall be punished with solitary imprisonment. 363. The person guilty of false evidence, in a civil matter, shall be punished with the penalty established in the preceding article. 364. The false witness, in a correctional or civil matter, or a matter of police, who shall have received any money, reward, or promise, shall be punished with hard labour for time. In every case, what the false witness shall have received shall be confiscated. 365.The person guilty of subordination of witnesses shall be condemned to hard labour for time, if the false evidence, which has been the object of such subordination, is punishable with solitary imprisonment; to perpetual hard labour, if the false evidence is punishable with hard labour for time, or transportation; and to the penalty of death, when the false evidence shall be punishable with perpetual hard labour, or capital punishment. 366. The party to whom the oath shall have been tendered or referred, in a civil matter, and who shall have made a false oath, shall be punished with civic degradation. (This article applies to the provisions of the French law, for examining the parties to a cause. In certain cases, a party may require his adversary to confess or deny the matter in question, upon oath; he to whom the oath is so tendered (déféré), may either answer upon oath, or refer, i.e., tender back the oath to the other; and the refusal of this last, or the oath of either party, to whom it is so tendered, must decide the cause. This is called the decisory oath. In certain cases, where the proof would be otherwise insufficient, the judge may finally decide the cause upon the oath of one party; and this resembles the suppletory oath of the civil law. Code Napoleon, article 1357, to article 1369.) § II. Calumny, Slander, and Disclosure of Secrets. 367. He, who either in public places or assemblies, or in a public and authentic act or deed; or in any writing, printed or not printed, which shall have been posted up, sold, or distributed; shall have imputed to any individual whatever, facts, which, if they really existed, would expose the person, against whom they are charged, to criminal or correctional prosecution, or even would only expose him to the contempt or hatred of the citizens; shall be guilty of the delict of calumny. (Calumny, being a delict, is tried without the intervention of a jury. This has been complained of, and the subject, at present (1819), occupies the attention of the French legislators.) The present disposition is not applicable to facts, the publication whereof is authorised by the law; nor to those which the author of the imputation was, by the nature of his functions or duties, obliged to disclose or repress. 368. Every imputation, in support of which legal proof is not produced, is presumed to be false; consequently, the author of the imputation shall not be allowed, in his defence, to require that the falsehood be proved; nor can he allege, as matter of excuse, either that the publications or facts are notorious, or that the imputations, which give rise to the prosecution, have been copied or extracted from foreign papers or other printed writings. 369. The calumnies, published by means of foreign papers, may support
a prosecution against those who shall have sent the articles, or ordered
them to be inserted, or contributed to the introduction or distribution
of such papers in
370. When the imputed fact shall be legally proved true, the author of the imputation shall not be liable to any penalty. No proof shall be considered legal but that which results from a judgment, or some other authentic act. 371. When the legal proof shall not be produced, the calumniator shall be punished with the following penalties: If the imputed fact is of such a nature as to deserve the penalty of death, perpetual hard labour, or transportation, the criminal shall be punished with an imprisonment of from two to five years, and a fine of from 200 to 5,000 francs. In all other cases, the imprisonment shall be from one month to six months, and a fine of from 50 to 2,000 francs. 372. When the imputed facts shall be punishable by law, and the author of the imputation shall have denounced them, the prosecution and judgment of the delict of calumny, shall be respited during the proceedings upon the prosecution for the imputed facts. 373. Whoever shall have made, in writing, a calumnious denunciation against one or more individuals, to the officers of justice, or of the administrative or judiciary police, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from one month to one year, and a fine of from 100 to 3,000 francs. 374. In all cases, the calumniator shall be interdicted from the rights mentioned in article 42, of the present Code, during not less than five years' reckoning, nor more than ten years, from the day on which he shall have undergone his punishment. 375. As for slanders, or other insulting expressions, which do not include the imputation of any precise fact, but that of some particular vice; if they have been uttered in public places or assemblies, or inserted in writings, printed or not printed, which shall have been circulated and distributed; the penalty shall be a fine of from 16 to 500 francs. 376. All other slanders, or insulting expressions, which shall not have the above double character of gravity and publicity, shall only be punished with penalties of mere police. 377. In regard to the imputations and abuse, which may be inserted in writings relative to the defence of the parties, or in pleadings; the judges, who are in possession of the cause, may, in giving judgment, either award the suppression of the abuse, or abusive writings, or give admonitions (injonctions), to the authors of the delict, or suspend them from their functions, and also decide upon the damages. The duration of such suspension shall not exceed six months; in case of repeated offence, it shall be of not less than one year, nor more than five years. If the abuse, or abusive writings, bear the character of grave calumny, and the judges in possession of the cause cannot take cognizance of the delict, they can only award, against the persons charged with calumny, a provisional suspension of their functions, and shall send them to trial for the delict, before the competent judges. 378. The physicians, surgeons, and other officers of health, likewise the apothecaries, midwives, and all other persons, to whom, in consequence of their state or profession, secrets are confided, and who, except in cases in which the law obliges them to give information, shall have disclosed such secrets; shall be punished with imprisonment from one month to six months, and a fine of from 100 to 500 francs. CHAPTER II. Crimes and Delicts against Property. [Law decreed
SECTION [I.] Thefts. (Under the head of Larceny, &c. Mr. Evans cites 51 Acts of Parliament, extending to 62 pages of his Book.) 379. Whoever has fraudulently abstracted a thing which does not belong to him, is guilty of theft. 380. The abstractions which are committed by husbands to the prejudice of their wives (The French law, like the civil, considers the husband and wife as distinct persons, capable of having separate property.); by wives to the prejudice of their husbands; by a widower or a widow, as to the things which had belonged to the deceased spouse; by children or their descendants, to the prejudice of their fathers, mothers, or other ascendants; by fathers, mothers, or other descendants; or by persons related by affinity in the same degrees; shall not afford ground for any thing more than civil reparations. In regard to all other individuals, who shall have concealed, or applied to their own use, the whole or a part of the stolen goods, they shall be punished as guilty of theft (See note to article 62.). 381. The penalty of death shall be inflicted upon the individuals guilty of theft, committed with the aggravation of all the five circumstances following: 1st. If the theft has been committed by night; 2d. If the theft has been committed by two or more persons; 3d. If the criminals, or any of them, were in possession of arms, apparent or concealed; 4th. If they have committed the crime; Either by means of extend house-breaking (effraction exterieure), or of scaling, or of false keys, in a house, apartment, chamber, or lodgings, inhabited or used for habitation, or their appurtenances; Or by assuming the title of a public functionary, or civil or military officer, or dressed in the uniform or costume of such functionary, or officer, or by alleging a false order of the civil or military authority. 5th. If they have committed the crime with violence, or threats of making use of their arms. 382. The penalty of perpetual hard labour shall be inflicted upon every individual guilty of theft, committed by means of violence, and, moreover, with any two of the first four circumstances enumerated in the preceding article. If the violence, with which the theft has been committed, has left marks of wounds or bruises, this circumstance alone shall suffice, that the penalty of perpetual hard labour shall be awarded. 383. Thefts, committed on the highways, shall also be punishable with perpetual hard labour. 384. The penalty of hard labour for time shall be inflicted upon every individual guilty of theft, committed by any of the means expressed in number 4 of article 381, even though the breaking, scaling, or use of false keys, may have taken place in buildings, parks, or inclosures, not used for habitation, or not belonging to inhabited houses, and though the breaking may have been only interior. 385. The penalty of hard labour for time shall, in like manner, be inflicted upon every individual guilty of theft committed, either with violence, when it shall not have been accompanied by any other circumstance of aggravation; or without violence, but with the aggravation of all the three following circumstances: 1st. If the theft has been committed by night; 2d. If it has been committed by two or more persons; 3d. If the criminals, or any of them, were in possession of arms, apparent or concealed. 386. The penalty of solitary imprisonment shall be inflicted upon every individual guilty of theft, committed in one of the following cases: 1st. If the theft has been committed by night, and by two or more persons; or if it has been committed with one only of those two circumstances, but also in a place inhabited or used for habitation. 2d. if the criminals, or any of them, were in possession of arms, apparent or concealed; even though the place where the theft has been committed, was neither inhabited nor used for habitation, and though the theft has been committed in the day, and by one person only. 3d. If the thief is a domestic servant, or person working for wages, even when he shall have committed the theft against persons whom he did not serve, but who were either in the house of his master, or in that to which the criminal did accompany him; or if he is a workman, mate (compagnon), o apprentice, in the house, workshop, or warehouse of his master; or an individual, working habitually in the habitation where he shall have stolen. 4th. If the theft has been committed by an innkeeper, tavernkeeper, carrier, or boatman, or any of their overseers (préposés), when they shall have stolen the whole or a part of the things entrusted to them in that quality; or, lastly, if the criminal has committed the theft in the inn where he was received. 387. Carriers, boatmen, or their overseers, who shall have altered any wines, or any other sort of liquors or merchandize, whereof the carriage had been entrusted to them, and who shall have committed such alteration, by the admixture of unwholesome substances, shall be punished with the penalty established in the preceding article. If there has not been an admixture of unwholesome substances, the penalty shall be an imprisonment of from one month to one year, and a fine of from 16 to 100 francs. 388. Whoever shall have stolen, in the fields, any horses, or beasts, used for bearing burthens, drawing, or riding; any great or small cattle, instruments of agriculture, crops, or stacks of grain, forming part of crops; shall be punished with solitary imprisonment. The same rule shall hold good in regard to timber, stolen from the places where it is felled (ventes), and to stone, stolen from the quarry; also with regard to fish, stolen from ponds, preserves, or reservoirs. 389. The same penalty shall take place, if, to commit the theft, there has been any carrying off or displacing of land-marks. 390. Every building, lodging, lodge, or hut, even moveable, which, though not actually inhabited, is intended for habitation, is considered an inhabited house; so likewise all the dependencies thereof, as courts, yards, barns, stables, and buildings, which are inclosed therein, whatever may be the use thereof, and even though they may have a particular inclosure within the general inclosure or fence (enceinte). 391. Every ground (terrain), is considered a park or inclosure, when it is surrounded by ditches, stakes, hurdles, planks, hedges, either of quickset or of dead-wood, or by walls, of whatever materials, and whatever may be the height, depth, antiquity, or decay of those different inclosures, though there be no gate shutting with a lock or otherwise, or though the gate should afford a passage (serait à claire voie), and be left constantly open. 392 The moveable pens, intended to hold cattle in the country, of whatever materials they may be formed, are also considered as inclosures; and when they are connected with moveable huts or other shelters, intended for the keepers, they are considered as depending upon an inhabited house. 393. By breaking is meant, any forcing open, fracture, pulling down, demolishing, or carrying away, of walls, roofs, floors, doors, windows, locks, pad locks, or other utensils, or instruments, used for shutting or for preventing a free passage; and of any other kind of inclosure whatsoever. 394. Breaking is either exterior or interior. 395. Exterior breakings are those by means of which houses, courts, yards, inclosures, or dependencies, or the apartments or lodgings of an individual, are entered. 396. Interior breakings are those which, after the entry into the places mentioned in the preceding article, are made of inner-doors or inclosures; also of cupboards or other articles of furniture, which are shut. The mere carrying away of chests, boxes, bales packed with cloth and cordage; or other closed articles, containing any effects whatever, is considered as an interior breaking, notwithstanding that such things have not been broken open upon the spot. 397. Every entry into houses, buildings, courts, yards, edifices of whatever kind, gardens, parks, or inclosures, effected by getting over the walls, doors, roofing (toitures), or any other inclosure, is denominated scaling. The entering, by any subterraneous passage, other than that which has been established to serve as an entry, is a circumstance of the same gravity as scaling. 398. All hooks, pick-locks, master-keys, keys imitated, counterfeited, or altered; or which were not intended by the proprietor, tenant, innkeeper, or lodger, for the locks, padlocks, or any other fastenings, to which the criminal shall have applied them, are denominated false keys. 399. Whoever shall have counterfeited or altered any keys, shall be condemned to an imprisonment of from three months to two years, and a fine of from 25 to 150 francs. If the criminal is a locksmith by profession, he shall be punished with solitary imprisonment. All, without prejudice to more severe penalties, if need be, in case of his being an accomplice of crime. 400. Whoever shall have extorted, by force, violence, or constraint, the signature or surrender (remise), of any writing, act, or legal instrument; or of any document whatever, containing or operating any obligation, conveyance, or release; shall be punished with hard labour for time. 401. All other thefts, not mentioned in the present section; all acts of stealth and larceny; all attempts to commit those delicts; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one year, nor more than five years; and may also be punished with a fine of not less than 16 nor more than 500 francs. The criminals may also be interdicted from the rights mentioned in article 42, of the present Code, during not less than five years, nor more than ten years, reckoning from the day when they shall have undergone their punishment. They may also be placed, by the sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police, during the same number of years. SECTION II. Bankruptcies, Swindlings, and other Kinds of Fraud. §
402. Those who, in cases provided for by the Code of Commerce, shall be declared guilty of bankruptcy, shall be punished as follows: Fraudulent bankrupts shall be punished with hard labour for time: Simple bankrupts shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one month, nor more than two years. (It must be observed, that by the French law (as by the more ancient English acts of parliament) the word Bankruptcy implies an offence. The simple insolvency of a trader is called failure (faillite); the culpable insolvent is called a bankrupt. It is thought proper to subjoin those articles of the Code of Commerce which establish the distinctions above referred to. It is a frequent subject of complaint that some such distinctions are wanting in English Law, which denounces capital punishment against the bankrupt, for concealment to the amount of £20, but does not provide any effectual correction for the other more common offences mentioned below. CODE DE COMMERCE.—Art. 437. Every trader who stops payment is in a state of failure. 438. Every trader who fails, and who falls under one of the cases of culpability or fraud provided for by the present law, is in a state of bankruptcy. 439. There are two kinds of bankruptcies: Simple Bankruptcy; It shall be tried by the correctional tribunals. Fraudulent Bankruptcy; It shall be tried by the courts of criminal justice. 440. Every failer shall be bound, within three days from the time when he stops payment, to make a declaration thereof at the registry of the tribunal of commerce; the day on which he stops shall be reckoned one of the three. In case of failure a partnership under a firm, the declaration of the failer shall contain the name and indication of the domicile of each of the general partners (associés solidaires). [Art.] 586. The failing trader who shall fall under one or more of the following cases, to wit: 1st. If his household expences, which he is bound to enter month by month, in his journal, are considered excessive; 2d. If he is found to have wasted large sums in gaming, or dealings of mere chance; 3d. If it appears from his last stock-taking that he has incurred considerable debts, while his credit (actif) was 50 per cent below his debit (passif), and if he has sold again wares to a loss, or below the market price; 4th. If he has signed notes or bills (a donné des signatures de credit ou de circulation) to an amount equal to three times his credit, according to his last stock taking; May be prosecuted as a simple bankrupt, and declared such. 587. The failer who has not made at the registry the declaration prescribed by Art. 440; He who, having absented himself, shall not present himself in person to the commissioners (agens), and to the assignees (syndics). Within the time fixed, and without lawful excuse; He who, having a partnership, shall not conform himself to Art. 440; May be prosecuted as a simple bankrupt, and declared such. [Art] 593. Every failing trader who shall fall under one or more of the following cases, to wit: 1st. If he has set up any fictitious expenses or losses, or does not shew how he has applied all his receipts; 2d. If he has embezzled (détourné) any sum of money, credit, merchandise, wares, or moveables; 3d. If he has made any fictitious sales, bargains, or gifts; 4th. If he has made any fictitious debts, by collusion with pretended creditors, by means of simulated writings, or by making himself debtor, without consideration or value received, by public acts or engagements under private signature; 5th. If, having received upon a special commission (mandate), or for safe custody, any commercial goods, wares, or merchandises, he has, to the prejudice of the consigner or owner, applied to his own use the goods so received, or the value of them; 6th. If he has bought moveable or immoveable goods in another person's name; 7th. If he has concealed his books; Shall be declared a fraudulent bankrupt. 594. The failer who has kept no books, or whose books do not shew his true situation of debit and credit; He who, having obtained a safe conduct, shall not surrender himself to justice; May be prosecuted as a fraudulent bankrupt, and declared such. [Art.] 597. The individuals convicted of having had an understanding with the bankrupt, for the purpose of concealing or withdrawing all or part of his moveable or immoveable goods; those convicted of having obtained from him fictitious credits, and who, at the proof of their debts, shall persist in making them pas as real and bona fide; Shall be declared accomplices of the fraudulent bankrupts, and condemned to the same penalties as the accused. 598. The same judgment which shall award the penalties against the accomplices of fraudulent bankrupts shall condemn the, 1st. To refund to the general creditors the goods, rights, and actions fraudulently withdrawn; 2d. To pay to the said general creditors, damages equal to the sum of which they have attempted to defraud them.) 403. Those who, conformably to the Code of Commerce shall be declared accomplices of fraudulent bankruptcy, shall be punished with the same penalty as the fraudulent bankrupts. 404. Exchange brokers, and brokers, who have failed, shall be punished with hard labour for time; if they are convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy, the penalty shall be that of perpetual hard labour. 405. Whoever, either by making use of false names or descriptions; or by using fraudulent contrivances to induce the belief of false speculations, or of imaginary means or credit, or to suggest the hope or fear of any success, accident, or other chimerical event; shall procure to be remitted or delivered to him, any funds, moveables, obligations, dispositions, bills, promises, acquittances, or releases; and shall, by any of these means, fraudulently obtain, or attempt to obtain, the whole or part of the fortune of others; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one year, nor more than five years, and a fine of not less than 50 francs, nor more than 3,000 francs. The criminal may, moreover, be interdicted from the rights mentioned in article 42 of the present code, during not less than five years, nor more than ten years, to be reckoned from the day on which he shall have undergone his penalty; all without prejudice to more severe penalties, if the crime of forgery has been committed. § II. Abuse of Confidence. 406. Whoever shall have abused the wants, weaknesses, or passions of a minor, to induce him to subscribe, to his own prejudice, any obligations, releases, or discharges, in consideration of the loan of money or moveable goods, or of commercial paper (effets), or any other securities, under whatever form such negociation may have been made or disguised; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than two months, nor more than two years, and a fine which may neither exceed the fourth part of the restitution and damages which shall be due to the parties injured, nor be less than 25 francs. The disposition established in the second paragraph of the preceding article, may, moreover, be applied. 407. Whoever, abusing a paper signed in blank (blanc-seing), which has been entrusted to him, shall have fraudulently written upon it any obligation or discharge, or any other act which may endanger the person or fortune of the subscriber (signataire), shall be punished with the penalties established in Article 405. In case the blank signature shall not have been entrusted to him, he shall be prosecuted as a forger, and punished as such. 408. Whoever shall have embezzled or squandered, in prejudice of the proprietor, possessor, or holder, any effects, money, goods, bills, releases, or other writings, containing or operating any obligation or discharged, which shall have been only committed to him as a deposit, or to be kept with a compensation for his trouble, under the condition of restoring or producing them, or of making some particular use or employment of them; shall be punished with the penalties established in Article 406. All without prejudice to what is said in Articles 254, 255, and 256, in relation to the abstraction and carrying away of money, effects, or documents, placed in public depositories. 409. Whoever, after having produced, in a judiciary cause, any document, paper, or memorial, shall have substracted it in any manner whatever, shall be punished with a fine of from 25 to 300 francs. This penalty shall be awarded by the tribunal in possession of the cause. § III. Offences against the Regulations with respect to Gaming-houses, Lotteries, and Pawnbrokers'-offices. 410. Those who shall keep any house for games of chance, to which the public shall be admitted, either indiscriminately, or upon the introduction of persons interested or initiated; the bankers of such house; all those who shall have established or kept any lottery not authorized by law; all managers, overseers, or agents of any such establishment; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than two months, nor more than six months, and a fine of from 100 to 6,000 francs. (The English and French law resemble each other in prohibitions of all unlicensed lotteries; and it is evident that, in both cases, the intention is not that of preserving public morals, but that of securing to the public treasury, as much as possible of the gain if it can with propriety be so called, which may be derived from the practice. It may, however, be hoped, that the exertions of Mr. Lyttleton will soon effect an entire abolition of the English lotteries. This notice cannot add to that gentleman's honour, but it would be an act of ingratitude to omit the mention of his name.) The offenders may, moreover, be interdicted from the rights mentioned in Article 42 of the present Code, during not less than five years nor more than ten years, to be reckoned from the day when they shall have undergone their punishment. In all cases, the funds or effects which shall be found exposed in the game, or put in the lottery; the furniture, instruments, utensils, and implements employed in, or intended for the use of, the games or lotteries; the furniture and moveable effects with which the places shall be furnished or adorned; shall be confiscated. 411. Those who shall establish or keep offices for lending money upon pledges or pawns, without legal authority; or who, having such authority, shall not keep a register, conformably to the regulations, containing consecutively, without blank or interlineations, the sums or things lent, the names, domiciles, and professions of the borrowers, and the nature, quality, and value of the things pledged; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than fifteen days, nor more than three months, and a fine of from 100 to 2,000 francs. § IV. Impediments to the Freedom of bidding at Auctions. 412. Those who, at the disposal of the property, usufruct, or letting out, of moveable or immoveable goods, of any contract or distress (exploitation), or of any work whatever, shall have impeded or disturbed the liberty of biddings or tenders (sommissions), by actual force, violence, or threats, either before or during the time of taking such biddings or tenders; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than fifteen days, nor more than one year, and a fine of not less than 100 nor more than 5,000 francs. The same penalty shall be inflicted upon those who shall get the bidders out of the way by gifts or promises. § V. Breach of Regulations relative to Manufactures, to Commerce, and the Arts. 413. Every breach of the regulations of public administration, relative to the produce of the French manufactures, which shall be exported to foreign countries; the object of which regulations is to warrant the good quality, the dimensions, and the nature of the fabric; shall be punished with a fine of not less than 200 nor more than 3,000 francs, and confiscation of the goods. These two penalties may be awarded, accumulatively or separately, according to circumstances. 414. Every combination among those who employ workmen, tending to enforce, unjustly and abusively, the diminution of wages, followed by an attempt or commencement of execution, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to one month, and a fine of from 200 to 3,000 francs. 415. Every combination, on the part of the workmen, to cease working, all at the same time; to forbid work being done in any particular shop; to hinder any one from going thereto and remaining therein, before or after certain hours; and, in general, to suspend or hinder the works, or raise the wages thereof; shall be punished with an imprisonment of from one month to three months, if there has been an attempt or commencement of execution. The chiefs or movers shall be punished with an imprisonment of from two to five years. 416. The penalty, established in the preceding article, with the same distractions, shall be inflicted upon the workmen, who shall have awarded any fines, prohibitions, interdictions, or any proscriptions, by the name of "damning," or by any other name whatever; either against the directors of work-shops, or undertakers of works, or against each other. In the cases of the present and preceding articles, the chiefs or movers of the delict may, after the expiration of their punishment, be placed under the superintendence of the high police, during not less than two years, nor more than five years. 417. Whoever, with a view to injure French industry, shall have caused to pass into foreign countries, any directors, clerks, or workmen, of any establishment, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six months to two years, and a fine of from 50 to 300 francs. (The English law carries this principle still further, and pronounces heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment against any artificer who shall attempt to emigrate. Prosecutions are sometimes instituted for this offence, but we believe that they are not effectual in preventing emigration, and, so far as they do operate, produce harm rather than good.) 418. Every director, clerk, or manufacturer, who shall communicate to foreigners, or to Frenchmen resident in foreign countries, any secrets of the manufacture in which he is employed, shall be punished with solitary imprisonment, and a fine of from 500 to 20,000 francs. If those secrets have been communicated to Frenchmen,
living in
419. Those who, by false or slanderous reports, purposely spread among the people; or by offering higher prices than those which were asked by the venders themselves; or by coalitions or combinations among the principal holders of the same kind of merchandize or provisions, tending to prevent such goods being sold at all, or being sold under a certain price; or by any fraudulent ways or means whatever, shall have effected the enhancement or reduction of the price of provisions or merchandize; or of the public securities and stocks, above or below the prices which would have been determined by the free and natural competition of trade; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one month, nor more than one year, and a fine of from 500 to 10,000 francs. The offenders may, moreover, be placed, by sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police, during not less than two years, nor more than five years. 420. The penalty shall be an imprisonment of not less than two months, nor more than two years, and a fine of from 1,000 to 20,000 francs, if such contrivances have been practiced upon corn, grain, flour, farinaceous substances, bread, wine, or any kind of liquor. The placing under superintendence, which may be awarded, shall be for not less than five years, nor more than ten years. 421. Wagers, made upon the high or low price of the public funds, shall be punished with the penalties established in article 419. 422, Every agreement to sell, or deliver up, any public funds, which the vender shall not prove that he either had at his disposal, at the time of the agreement, or had a right to have at his disposal, at the time of the delivery, shall be considered as a wager of this kind. (As the French law does not allow any action to be maintained upon a mere wager, or gaming debt, (Code Napoleon, article 1965) this disposition is less anomalous than the Act 7th Geo. 2, c.8, made to prevent what is there called the infamous practice of stockjobbing. Public opinion does not go along with this declaration of the English law; and it is certainly difficult to perceive any real objection to the morality of stock-jobbing, which does not apply equally to all contracts in the nature of wagers or games of chance.) 423.have cheated the purchaser n the standard of gold and silver articles; in the quality of a false stone, sold as a precious one; or in the nature of any goods; whoever, by use of false weights or measures, shall have cheated in the quantity of the things sold; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than three months, nor more than one year, and a fine which must neither exceed the fourth-part of the restitutions and damages, nor be under 50 francs. The objects of the delict, or the value thereof, if they still belong to the vender, shall be confiscated; the false weights and measures shall also be confiscated; and, moreover, broken. 424. If the vender ad purchaser have made use, in their bargains, of other weights or measures than those which have been established by the laws of the state, the purchaser shall be deprived of all action against the vender, who shall have cheated him by the use of the forbidden weights or measures; without prejudice to the public prosecution, for the purpose of punishing, as well this fraud, as the use of the forbidden weights and measures. The penalty, in case of fraud, shall be that expressed in the preceding example. The penalty, for the use of prohibited weights or measures, shall be determined by the fourth book of the present Code, which contains the penalties of simple police. 425. Every edition of writings, of musical compositions, of drawings, paintings, or any other production, wholly or in part, printed or engraved, in contempt of the laws and regulations relative to the property of authors, is a counterfeiting; and every counterfeiting is a delict. 426. The sale of counterfeited works, the introduction into the French territory of works which, after having been printed in France, have been counterfeited in foreign countries, are delicts of the same kind. 427. The penalty against the counterfeiter or the introducer, shall be a fine of not less than 100 nor more than 2,000 francs; and against the seller a fine of not less than 25 nor more than 500 francs. The confiscation of the counterfeited edition shall be awarded, as well against the counterfeiter as against the introducer and the seller. The plates, moulds, or dies, of the counterfeited objects, shall also be confiscated. 428. Every director or undertaker of a spectacle, every company of performers, who shall cause to be represented at their theatre, any dramatic works, in contempt of the laws and regulations relative to the property of the authors; shall be punished with a fine of not less than 50 nor more than 500 francs; and with the confiscation of the receipts. 429. In the cases provided for by the four preceding articles, the produce of the confiscations, or the confiscated receipts, shall be paid to the proprietor, to indemnify him for so much of the damage which he shall have sustained; the remainder of his indemnification, or the entire indemnification, if there has been neither sale of confiscated objects, nor confiscation of receipts, shall be settled in the ordinary way. § VI. Delicts of Contractors. 430. All individuals entrusted, either as members of a partnership, or individually, with contracts, undertakings, or managements, on account of the land or sea forces; who, without being constrained by superior power, shall have permitted the service with which they are intrusted to fail; shall be punished with solitary imprisonment, and with a fine which must neither exceed a fourth-part of the damages, nor be under 500 francs; all without prejudice to more severe penalties, in case of intelligence with the enemy. 431. When the failure of service shall proceed from the act of the agents of the contractors, the agents shall be condemned to the penalties established by the preceding article. The contractors and their agents shall be equally condemned, when both shall have participated in the crime. 432. If any public officers or agents, or persons employed or paid by the government, have assisted the guilty persons in making the service fail, they shall be punished with hard labour for time, without prejudice to more severe penalties, in case of intelligence with the enemy. 433. Though the service has not failed, yet if, by negligence, the deliveries or works have been delayed; or if there has been fraud in the nature, quality, or quantity, of the works or workmanship, or of the things furnished; the offenders shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six months, nor more than five years, and with a fine which must neither exceed the fourth-part of the damages, nor be less than 100 francs. In the different cases provided for by the articles composing the present paragraph, no prosecution can take place, except upon the denunciation of government. SECTION III. Destruction, Spoil, and Damage. 434. Whoever shall wilfully set fire to any buildings, ships, boats, warehouses, dock or timber yards; woods, underwoods, or crops, either standing or cut down; and whether the wood be in heaps or cords, and the crops in heaps or stacks; or to combustible materials, so placed as to communicate the fire to such objects, or any of them; shall be punished with death. 435. The penalty shall be the same, against those who shall have destroyed, by means of a mine, any buildings, ships, or boats. 436. The threat of burning a habitation, or any other property, shall be punished with the penalty provided against the threat of assassination, and according to the distinctions established by articles 305, 306, and 307. 437. Whoever shall willfully destroy or throw down, by any means whatever, in whole or in part, any buildings, bridges, piers, [or] cause-ways; or any other constructions which he knew to belong to others; shall be punished with solitary imprisonment, and a fine which must neither exceed the fourth part of the restitutions and damages, nor be under 100 francs. If homicide or wounds have taken place, the criminal shall be punished, with death in the first case, and with hard labour for time in the second case. 438. Whoever, by actual force, shall oppose the completion of works authorized by government, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from three months to two years, and with a fine which may not exceed the fourth part of the damages, nor be under 16 francs. The movers shall undergo the maximum of the penalty. 439. Whoever shall willfully burn or destroy, by any means whatever, any registers, minutes, or original acts of public authority; any deeds, notes, bills of exchange, banking or commercial papers, containing or operating any obligation, conveyance, or release; shall be punished as follows: If the destroyed papers are acts of public authority, commercial or banking papers, the penalty shall be solitary imprisonment; In case of any other papers, the criminal shall be punished with an imprisonment of from two to five years, and a fine of from 100 to 300 francs. 440. All pillage or waste of provisions or goods, effects, or moveable property, committed by assemblies or bands, and with open force, shall be punished with hard labour for time; each of the criminals shall, moreover, be condemned to a fine of from 200 to 5,000 francs. 441. Nevertheless, those who shall prove that they were seduced by incitements or solicitations, to take part in such violences, may be punished with solitary imprisonment only. 442. If the provisions, plundered or destroyed, are corn, grain, flour, farinaceous substances, bread, wine, or liquor of any kind, the penalty which shall be inflicted, upon the chiefs, instigators, or inciters only, shall be the maximum of hard labour for time, and the maximum of the fine pronounced by article 440. 443. Whoever, by means of a corrosive liquor, or by any other means, shall have willfully spoiled any wares or materials, used for manufacture, shall be punished with an imprisonment of from one month to two years, and a fine which must neither exceed the fourth-part of the damages, nor be less than 16 francs. If the delict has been committed by a workman of the manufacture, or a clerk of the commercial house, the imprisonment shall be from two years to five years, without prejudice to the fine, as is just above said. 444. Whoever shall have laid waste any standing crops, or any plants, growing naturally or by means of cultivation, shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than two years, nor more than five years. The criminals may, moreover, be placed, by sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police, during not less than five years nor more than ten years. 445. Whoever shall have felled one or more trees, which he knew to belong to other, shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six days, nor more than six months, for each tree; so that the whole imprisonment do not exceed five years. 446. The penalties shall be the same for each tree mutilated, cut, or stripped of the bark, so as to cause it to perish. 447. If there has been a destruction of one or more grafts, the imprisonment shall be from six days to two months, for each graft; so that the whole imprisonment do not exceed two years. 448. The minimum of the penalty shall be twenty days, in the cases provided for by articles 445 and 446; if the trees were planted in squares, ways, streets, public or cross roads, or ways through fields. 449. Whoever shall have cut any grain or forage, which he knew to belong to others, shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six days, nor more than two months. 450. The imprisonment shall be not less than twenty days, nor more than four months, if the grain has been cut green. In the cases provided for by the present and the six preceding articles, if the fact has been committed out of spite against a public officer, and by reason of his functions, the offender shall be punished with the maximum of the penalty, established by the article to which the case shall relate. It shall be the same, though this latter circumstance may not exist, if the fact has been committed in the night. 451. Every fracture or destruction, of agricultural instruments, of folds for cattle, or of the keepers huts; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one month, nor more than one year. 452. Whoever shall have poisoned any horses, or other beasts used for drawing, riding, or bearing burdens; any horned cattle, sheep, goats, or swine; or fish in ponds, preserves, or reservoirs; shall be punished with an imprisonment of from one year to five years, and a fine of from 16 to 300 francs. The offenders maybe placed, by sentence or judgment, under the superintendence of the high police, for not less than two years, nor more than five years. 453. Those who, without necessity, shall have killed any of the animals mentioned in the preceding article, shall be punished as follows: If the delict has been committed in the buildings, inclosures, or dependencies, or upon the lands of which the owner of the animal was proprietor, tenant, cultivator, or farmer, the penalty shall be imprisonment from two to six months. If it has been committed in any places of which the offender was proprietor, tenant, cultivator, or farmer, the imprisonment shall be from six days to one month. If it has been committed in any other place, the imprisonment shall be from fifteen days to six weeks. The maximum of the penalty shall always be awarded, in case of breach of inclosures. 454. Whoever shall, without necessity, kill a domestic animal, in a place of which the person to whom such animal belongs, is proprietor, tenant, cultivator, or farmer; shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than six days, nor more than six months. If there has been a breach of inclosure, the maximum of the penalty shall always be awarded. 455. In the cases provided for by articles 444 and the following, up to the preceding article, inclusively, a fine shall be awarded, which must neither exceed the fourth-part of the restitutions and damages, nor be under 16 francs. 456. Whoever shall, in whole, or in part, fill up any ditches; destroy inclosures, of whatever materials the same are made; cut down or pull up any quick or dead hedges; displace or remove any land-marks, or trees which mark the limits of cutting wood in a forest (pieds corniers); or other trees, planted or known to establish the limits between different estates; shall be punished with an imprisonment, which must not be less than one month, nor exceed one year; and a fine, which shall be equal to the fourth-part of the restitutions and damages, and which must not, in any case, be less than 50 francs. 457. The proprietors, farmers, or other persons, making use of mills, forges, or ponds; who, by raising their sluices, above the heights fixed by the competent authority, shall be punished with a fine, which must not exceed one-fourth of the restitutions and damages, nor be under 50 francs. If ant waste (dégradation), shall have resulted, the penalty shall be, besides the fine, imprisonment from six days to one month. 458. The combustion of the moveable or immoveable properties of others, which shall have been caused by the decay, or the default of repair or cleansing, of the adjoining ovens, chimneys, smithies, houses, or forges; or by any fires kindled in the fields, within a hundred metres (About 200 yards English.) from the houses, buildings, forests, heaths, woods, orchards, plantations, hedges, sacks, heaps of grain, straw, hay, or forage, or any other deposit of combustible materials; or by fires or lights, carried or left, without sufficient care; or by fireworks, kindled or let off, negligently or impudently; shall be punished with a fine of not less than 50 nor more than 500 francs. 459. Every owner or keeper of animals or cattle, suspected of being infected with contagious distempers, who shall not have immediately given notice to the mayor of the commune where such animals are, and who, even before the mayor may have given an answer to such notice, shall not have kept them shut up; shall be punished with an imprisonment of from six days to two months, and a fine of from 16 to 200 francs. 460. Those who, in contempt of the prohibitions of the administration, shall have left their infected animals or cattle to communicate with other animals or cattle; shall be punished with imprisonment from two months to six months, and a fine of from 100 to 500 francs. 461. If, from the communication mentioned in the preceding article, any contagion has resulted among the other animals; those who shall have contravened the prohibitions of the administrative authority, shall be punished with imprisonment from two yeas to five years, and a fine of from 100 to 1,000 francs; all without prejudice to the execution of the laws and regulations relative to distempers among cattle, and to the application of the penalties established therein. 462. If the delicts of correctional police, which are mentioned in the present chapter, have been communicated by any rural or forest-guards, or officers of police, of any description whatever; the penalty of imprisonment shall be, one month at least, and one-third at most, more than the most severe penalty which should be inflicted upon any other person guilty of the same delict. General disposition. 463. In all cases where the penalty of imprisonment is established by the present Code, if the damage done does not exceed 25 francs, and if the circumstances appear extenuating, the tribunals are authorized to reduce the imprisonment even under six days, and the fine even under 16 francs. They may also award either the one or the other of these penalties separately; so that, in no case, the penalty be less than the penalties of mere police.
Placed on the Napoleon Series: April 2007
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