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they have been infringed or deviated from , a new trial before another cour royale . This revision takes place in civil as well as criminal cases . It determines also all differences as to jurisdiction between one court and another ; and exercises a certain degree of
control over every court in the kingdom . It has power to call the judges to account before the minister of justice , and even to suspend them from their functions ; acting thus as a high tribunal for the maintenance of the established order of judicature . How much better it has answered this its intended purpose and duty than those who would exercise and those who would establish
arbitrary power if they could , has been proved in a late memorable instance . May the integrity and independence of French judges be thus ever vindicated , and may the noble example not be lost to other countries ! The French minister , * Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice * { Garde des Sceaux ^ f * c . ) may be compared to the Chancellor of England , though his patronage is much more limited and his
functions much more suitable to that of a minister . He , in fact , rarely acts as a judge , but exercises a general superintendence over the judicial body . He is the medium of communication between the king and the courts of justice , in the same way as the minister of the home department is in regard to the civil authorities . The expenses of the judicial body fall under his cognizan ce *
The procureurs generaux and procureurs du roi throughout the kingdom address their correspondence to him ; and it is his province to report to the king on the commutation or alleviation of punishment ; on pardons ; in short , on all points in dispute or controversy whether of legislation or administration . One of the more immediate results of the revolution of 1789 was the
institution of trial by jury in criminal cases ; for some time there were grand juries in France similar to ours in England , from which model they were adopted ; these were , however , parts of the system of the National Assembly which ill-suited the despotic views of Bonaparte ; to attempt seriously to get rid of the former , he found would be running too great a risk , even for his cunning and daring . Partly by means of intimidation , and partly from the
paucity of numbers , and the habits of trench country gentlemen having been corrupted , and their views directed to advancement at court , ( which had been made the centre of attraction , ) rather than to rural concerns and the improvement of their country neighbourhoods , the functions of grand jurymen and their importance were but ill understood and therefore the less valued ^
so that the wily usurper of the rights of the people succeeded in transferring them to the cOurs royales * This chamber of a cour royale still decides , and in secret , on the bills of indictment , on ex parte evidence , as do the grand juries of England , so that not only a secret tribunal , the members of which are appointed by the king , but a considerable expense , is entailed on the country ,
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Notice * of Fran oe . 105
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No . 74 , I
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 105, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/37/
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