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Code Henry

The first comprehensive legal code of the Kingdom of Haiti, promulgated by King Henry Christophe on February 20, 1812 — a sovereign act of juridical self-determination just eight years after the world's only successful slave revolution produced an independent nation. This digital edition presents the complete Code in 3,004 articles spanning 8 laws and 67 titres — from the Loi Civile's 1,535 articles on personhood, marriage, property, and succession, to the Loi sur la Procédure Criminelle's 421 articles on investigation, confrontation, and royal clemency. Every article has been hand-extracted from 19th-century OCR, corrected, translated into English, and annotated with plain-language life lessons and scholarly notes. Browse in French, English, or Kreyòl Ayisyen. 3,004 articles · 8 laws · 3 languages · 213 years restored

3,004 articles in the Code Henry

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61
Article 61 Law on Prizes · Des Prises étrangères conduites dans les Ports du Royaume
Prize Law
If everything is found in conformity with the declaration made to the admiralty, it may order the sale; it shall be made publicly, to the...
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If everything is found in conformity with the declaration made to the admiralty, it may order the sale; it shall be made publicly, to the highest bidder, at the bar of the admiralty, in the presence of the king's prosecutor.

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62
Article 62 Law on Prizes · Des Prises étrangères conduites dans les Ports du Royaume
Prize Law
The sale proceeds (costs deducted) shall be placed with a domiciled, solvent merchant chosen by the captors, to remain in deposit under his responsibility; this...
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The sale proceeds (costs deducted) shall be placed with a domiciled, solvent merchant chosen by the captors, to remain in deposit under his responsibility; this merchant shall accept the charge by deed filed at the clerk's office, until the captors prove the prize's validity by a proper condemnation from the competent authorities of the state under whose commission they made the capture. Once the judicial sale is completed and the merchant depositary has made his submission, the captain sailing under foreign flag must set sail without further delay.

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63
Article 63 Law on Prizes · Des Prises étrangères conduites dans les Ports du Royaume
Prize Law
The merchant depositary shall be required to produce said condemnation before the admiralty court within a year and a day; failing which, the funds from...
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The merchant depositary shall be required to produce said condemnation before the admiralty court within a year and a day; failing which, the funds from the sale or sales of prizes of which he was depositary shall be paid into the treasury, to be held at the disposal of the rightful party. The depositary shall first deduct a commission of one percent for the deposit.

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64
Article 64 Law on Prizes · Des Prises étrangères conduites dans les Ports du Royaume
Prize Law
This delivery to the king's treasury or to the captors, all the above-prescribed formalities having been fulfilled, shall then and only then release the depositary's...
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This delivery to the king's treasury or to the captors, all the above-prescribed formalities having been fulfilled, shall then and only then release the depositary's bond and responsibility.

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1
Article 1 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Dispositions Générales
Criminal Law
Offenses and penalties are either of simple police, or correctional, or criminal.
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Offenses and penalties are either of simple police, or correctional, or criminal.

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2
Article 2 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Dispositions Générales
Criminal Law
Simple police offenses are those punishable by a fine of twenty-five gourdes or less, or detention not exceeding one month. Correctional offenses are those punishable...
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Simple police offenses are those punishable by a fine of twenty-five gourdes or less, or detention not exceeding one month. Correctional offenses are those punishable by detention not exceeding one year at the royal prison, or a fine of more than twenty-five to three hundred gourdes. Criminal offenses are those punishable by afflictive penalties, such as detention at the barrière neuve, the galleys, and death.

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3
Article 3 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Dispositions Générales
Criminal Law
Except in the case of conspiracy against the state and attempts against the person of the king, the queen, the royal prince, and the royal...
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Except in the case of conspiracy against the state and attempts against the person of the king, the queen, the royal prince, and the royal princesses, which entail confiscation of property and stigma against the family of the executed. Offenses and crimes are personal; and the condemnation pronounced against the one who committed them brings no stigma upon his family. His body, in the latter case, may be returned to his family for ordinary burial.

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4
Article 4 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines de simple police
Criminal Law
The following cases shall be deemed simple police offenses: 1. Failing to carry out orders or regulations issued by competent authorities for street cleanliness and...
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The following cases shall be deemed simple police offenses: 1. Failing to carry out orders or regulations issued by competent authorities for street cleanliness and sanitation; 2. Obstructing or causing obstructions on highways or streets, or damaging them; 3. Throwing from houses things that by their fall may cause damage or noxious fumes; 4. Allowing insane persons or those afflicted with madness, or rabid or dangerous animals, to run loose in the streets or highways; 5. Verbal insults, gatherings directed against individuals, acts of violence without striking or injuring, if not pursued correctionally or criminally according to the gravity of the circumstances. All such offenses shall be punished, independently of reparations and indemnities to injured parties, by a fine of not less than one gourde nor more than eight gourdes, and detention of twenty-four hours to eight days at the royal prison.

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5
Article 5 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines de simple police
Criminal Law
All rural offenses mentioned in the Rural Law, punishable by a fine of twenty-five gourdes or less, and detention at the royal prison not exceeding...
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All rural offenses mentioned in the Rural Law, punishable by a fine of twenty-five gourdes or less, and detention at the royal prison not exceeding one month, are also simple police offenses.

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6
Article 6 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
The confiscation and destruction of all spoiled and harmful foodstuffs offered for sale shall take place, and the person who exposed them shall be condemned...
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The confiscation and destruction of all spoiled and harmful foodstuffs offered for sale shall take place, and the person who exposed them shall be condemned to a fine of twenty-five gourdes and detention at the royal prison not exceeding one month; in case of repeat offense, the penalty and fine shall be doubled.

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7
Article 7 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Whoever is convicted of having sold medicines that are spoiled and harmful to health shall be punished by a fine of sixty gourdes and four...
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Whoever is convicted of having sold medicines that are spoiled and harmful to health shall be punished by a fine of sixty gourdes and four months' detention at the royal prison.

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8
Article 8 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
All those convicted of fraud in weights, measures, and yardsticks shall undergo four months' detention at the royal prison, and pay a fine of sixty...
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All those convicted of fraud in weights, measures, and yardsticks shall undergo four months' detention at the royal prison, and pay a fine of sixty gourdes, plus confiscation of said false weights and measures, which shall be confiscated and broken; in case of repeat offense, penalties shall be doubled.

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9
Article 9 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Bakers and butchers who do not comply with the weights fixed by regulations shall incur confiscation of the seized objects, and shall further be condemned...
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Bakers and butchers who do not comply with the weights fixed by regulations shall incur confiscation of the seized objects, and shall further be condemned to a fine of twenty-five gourdes and eight days' detention at the royal prison; in case of repeat offense within the year, the fine shall be doubled, and detention shall be one month.

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10
Article 10 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Whoever is convicted of having offended public morals, outraged the modesty of women, whether by words or indecent acts, promoted debauchery, or corrupted young persons...
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Whoever is convicted of having offended public morals, outraged the modesty of women, whether by words or indecent acts, promoted debauchery, or corrupted young persons of either sex, shall be punished according to the gravity of the facts, by a fine of fifty to one hundred gourdes, and four to eight months' detention at the royal prison.

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11
Article 11 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Whoever is convicted of having outraged objects of worship, whether in churches or in a public place, interrupted or insulted ministers in their functions, shall...
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Whoever is convicted of having outraged objects of worship, whether in churches or in a public place, interrupted or insulted ministers in their functions, shall be condemned to a fine of no more than one hundred gourdes nor less than twenty-five, and to be detained for ten months at the royal prison.

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12
Article 12 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Except in the case of legitimate self-defense, whoever voluntarily injures or even strikes someone shall be condemned to a fine of one hundred gourdes and...
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Except in the case of legitimate self-defense, whoever voluntarily injures or even strikes someone shall be condemned to a fine of one hundred gourdes and eight months' detention at the royal prison, provided the offense is not of a criminal nature, the wounds and bruises being minor.

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13
Article 13 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
The penalty shall be doubled if the violence was committed against women, or elderly persons of sixty years or above, or against children of fourteen...
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The penalty shall be doubled if the violence was committed against women, or elderly persons of sixty years or above, or against children of fourteen years or below; and this penalty shall be increased further if the violence was committed against masters by apprentices or persons in their employ.

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14
Article 14 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Simple thefts or petty frauds not belonging to rural police or criminal jurisdiction shall be punished, besides the return of stolen objects and damages, by...
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Simple thefts or petty frauds not belonging to rural police or criminal jurisdiction shall be punished, besides the return of stolen objects and damages, by detention of no less than three months nor more than one year at the royal prison for the first offense; in case of repeat, they shall be prosecuted criminally. If the theft was committed by a person living in the house, employed there with pay, or received as a guest, they shall be tried criminally and punished with two years of galley service.

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15
Article 15 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Whoever operates a public gambling house shall be punished by a fine of one hundred to three hundred gourdes, plus confiscation of the money found...
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Whoever operates a public gambling house shall be punished by a fine of one hundred to three hundred gourdes, plus confiscation of the money found at the game, and detention at the royal prison of no more than one year nor less than four months; in case of repeat offense, the penalties shall be doubled.

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16
Article 16 Criminal, Correctional and Police Law · Des délits et peines correctionnelles
Criminal Law
Whoever is caught selling or convicted of having sold beverages adulterated with harmful mixtures shall be condemned to a fine not exceeding two hundred gourdes,...
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Whoever is caught selling or convicted of having sold beverages adulterated with harmful mixtures shall be condemned to a fine not exceeding two hundred gourdes, and to detention at the royal prison not exceeding one year.