Code Henry

If, in the case of reform and according to the king's prosecutor's conclusions, the facts present an offense or contravention carrying a heavier penalty than that pronounced by the police judgment, the seneschal court, in reforming it, shall apply the penalty proportionate to the offense, just as it may moderate it, if the case warrants.

In the case of confirmation, it shall annul the appeal, and in confirming the judgment, order its enforcement.

All judgments rendered by the seneschal courts on appeal in simple police matters shall be final.

In correctional police matters or on appeal from simple police, judgments shall be rendered by two judges and upon the king's prosecutor's conclusions.

There shall be delivered without charge, by the seneschal court clerks, to the king's prosecutors, at the beginning of each quarter, extracts of judgments both reformed and confirmed on appeal during the preceding quarter. These extracts, addressed to the attorney general, shall be deposited at the criminal clerk's office of the superior councils or sovereign court, for reference as needed.

The judges of the seneschal courts in the cities and suburbs where they are established shall draw up official reports, for the purpose of establishing the nature, circumstances, time, place, evidence or indications of crimes, offenses, or contraventions that have caused harm to property, public or private safety, committed in said city or suburb; and this at the request and diligence of the injured parties, the king's prosecutor, or ex officio, upon public outcry and notoriety.

In the countryside, these official reports shall be drawn up by the lieutenants of the judge or by the officers of the maréchaussée, each in the parish where they are stationed.

If it concerns a theft, the officers of the maréchaussée shall follow the stolen goods to the places where they have been transported.

If the stolen goods are found in a habitation, in the woods, or on the roads, they shall be transported immediately to the clerk's office of the parish lieutenant judge's tribunal, by the neighboring inhabitants, who shall be required to provide the means to carry out this transport.

In the case that the stolen goods are of a nature to be transported immediately to the clerk's office of the parish court, the officer of the maréchaussée shall at once arrange for their transport and deliver them to the clerk, together with the official report he shall have drawn up.

The officers of the maréchaussée may also arrest and bring to the parish ban du roi any individual they have caught in the act of committing a crime, or who is denounced by public outcry; they shall immediately make their report in writing to the parish lieutenant judge, who is required to interrogate the suspect at once and draw up an official report.

An offense being committed at this moment, or which has just been committed, is a flagrant offense.

The case where the suspect is pursued by public outcry is also deemed a flagrant offense, as is the case where the suspect is found in possession of goods, weapons, instruments, or papers giving rise to a presumption that he is the author or accomplice of the crime, provided this occurs within a time close to when the crime or offense was committed.

Any person who has witnessed an attack, whether against public safety, or against the life or property of an individual, is required to make a declaration thereof to the king's prosecutors, the parish lieutenant judges, or the officers of the maréchaussée.

The magistrates in charge of the public prosecution shall receive, on a special register, the denunciations made to them, in conformity with the preceding article.

The person making the denunciation may draft it himself or request the magistrate to whom it is made to draft it himself; the denunciation shall be signed at the bottom of each page by the receiving magistrate and by the informant; and if the informant cannot or will not sign, mention shall be made of the reason or refusal.

In case of refusal to sign by the informant, the denunciation may or may not be given consideration, according to the circumstances.

The official reports of the maréchaussée officers, as well as their reports, shall be communicated to the parish lieutenant judges or to the king's prosecutors.

In the case of a flagrant offense, the parish lieutenant judge shall have himself escorted by the maréchaussée, and shall proceed without any delay to the scene, to draw up the necessary official reports, for the purpose of establishing the corpus delicti, its condition, the state of the premises, and to receive the declarations of persons who were present there, or who could provide information or indications about the matter.

In the case of the preceding article, relatives, neighbors, farmers, servants, or domestics, presumed to be able to provide information, may be summoned to the official report without formal citation, and required to declare what is within their knowledge; the lieutenant judge shall receive each declaration separately. The declarations shall be signed, at the bottom of each page, by the lieutenant judge and the declarants, if they know how to sign; otherwise, mention shall be made thereof.

The lieutenant judge may order that no person whatsoever leave the house or move away from the habitation, until the completion of his official report; any person who violates this order, if he can be seized, shall be immediately brought to the parish ban du roi, where he shall be detained for fifteen days, independently of a fine of twenty-five gourdes, which he shall be required to pay, without prejudice to other costs of detention, capture, and transport.

Weapons, instruments, and all other objects that appear to have been intended for committing the crime or offense, or that appear to have been the product thereof, or that may serve to reveal the truth, shall be seized by the judge, who shall present them to the suspect, if he has been arrested, requiring him to explain the use he made of them, how and why these weapons or objects are found at the scene, at the very moment of the offense. The judge shall draw up an official report of the whole, which he shall sign at the bottom of each page, along with the suspect, if he knows how to sign; otherwise, mention shall be made thereof, and he shall apply the seal of the jurisdiction upon the objects presented, of which mention shall be made in the official report.