at that assize. This measure cures any defects which might otherwise vitiate that decree, or the previous proceedings. In those departments which are the seat of a Cour Royale, the assizes are held by five members of that court, one of whom receives the title of president of the assizes. In the other departments, the Cour d'Assises is composed of a member of the Cour Royale, who is delegated for that purpose, and acts as president; and four judges, who are taken from the members of the tribunal de première instance of the place where the assizes are held. The Cour Royale may, however, delegate one or more of its members to assist the president, and then the members of the other tribunal are only taken to complete the number of four. The presidents and members of the Cour d'Assises are nominated by the minister of justice, and, if he neglects it, by the first president of the Cour Royale. The first president of each Cour Royale may, when he thinks fit, preside at the assizes of each department within the jurisdiction of that court. The Cours d'Assises have only the power of determining the amount of punishment to be inflicted, or of damages to be awarded, after the decision of a jury, who decide as to the liabilities of the parties in these respects: juries, varying much from their original institution in France, are now confined to decision at the trial; they are each composed of twelve members. The persons qualified to serve on juries in France are— 1. All persons answering to the conditions required for voting as electors of the members of the chamber of deputies, which are, thirty years of age, and the payment during the previous year of 300 francs direct contributions, whether on land or moveables, poll-tax, for doors and windows, or patents. 2. Public functionaries of thirty years of age, nominated by the king, and discharging gratuitous offices. 3. Retired officers of the army or navy, being actually domiciled in the department for five years, and in the receipt of a pension of at least 1,200 francs: this will not include any officers lower than a captain in either service. 4. Doctors and licentiates of any of the faculties of law or letters, inscribed in the lists of the advocates or attornies of the courts or tribunals, or employed in any situation of public instruction, or at least domiciled for ten years in the department; doctors of medicine, the corresponding members of the Institute, the members of other learned societies recognized by the king; and, lastly, notaries after three years' practice: but all must be at least thirty years of age, and in the enjoyment of all their civic rights. In the departments where the persons so qualified do not amount to 800, that number is completed by the choice of the most respectable individuals, who unite the qualifications of age and the possession of all their rights. The list of all these persons is posted up annually, not only in the capital of the department, but in every commune; and submitted to the verification and control of the administrative authorities and citizens. After these general lists have been rectified, if necessary, and confirmed, each prefect selects from the general list of his department, for the service of the jury of the following year, a quarter of the names composing it, not exceeding the number of 300, except in the department of the Seine, where the number selected is 1,500; these selections are then transmitted to the minister of justice and to the first president, and procureurs-généraux of the Cours Royales. Ten days at least before the opening of the assizes, the first president of the Cour Royale, at a public sitting, takes by lot from this list thirtysix names, from among whom are to be drawn at the Cour d'Assises, for each cause, the twelve persons to compose the jury for trying it; besides these thirty-six, four more names are drawn as supplemental jurymen. If any of these forty persons do not answer when called upon, they are fined by the Cour d'Assises, 500 francs for the first time, 1,000 francs for the second, and 1,500 francs for the third. Their names are the first and second times put back into the urn, but the third time they are declared incapable for the future of serving on juries. Except in these cases, or in that of temporary excuses which have been allowed, or of extraordinary assizes, no person is placed two years following, or more than once in the same year, on the list selected by the préfet. In the case of extraordinary assizes, no person is placed in the list more than twice in the same year. The list of thirty-six jurymen must be notified to each person accused the day before his trial; but it is not requisite that more than thirty of them should be present for the court to proceed to drawing the jury that is to try the cause. If more than six are wanting when called over, the number of thirty is made up, in the first place, by the four supernumerary jurymen mentioned above, and, if that is insufficient, by drawing by lot from the selected list of the préfet, or even from the general list of jurymen, such persons as dwell in the town where the assizes are held. The having served once in this last-mentioned way, does not exempt a person from being called upon to serve any number of times again in the same way in the course of the year. It is at the time of drawing the jury for the trial that the public officer and the party accused exercise their right of challenging. As each name is taken out of the urn, the prisoner first, and after him the procureur-général, object to such of the jurymen as they think proper; they have a right of challenging an equal number of times, and are not obliged to give their reasons If there is an uneven number of names in the urn, the prisoner may challenge one more than the procureur-général. The jury is considered to be formed for the trial as soon as twelve names are drawn and not objected to, and the right of challenge ceases when there are only twelve names left. If there are several parties to be tried, they may either challenge jointly or separately, and they may agree to do it jointly in part, reserving to themselves the right of challenging the remainder separately. They cannot, however, in any case challenge a greater number than is allowed to one prisoner alone. When they use their right separately, those jurymen who are rejected by one of the parties are considered to be so by all; the order in which they are to exercise their right of challenging is fixed by lot. The Cours d'Assises, thus constituted, take cognizance of all crimes, that is to say, of all such infractions of the law as are punishable with corporal or infamizing penalties, excepting, however, those criminal acts the cognizance of which is reserved for particular courts, such as the Chamber of Peers, and the like. All persons are liable to this jurisdiction except members of the Cours Royales, and also members of a tribunal of première instance or of commerce, where all the members of that tribunal are included in one common accusation; but even in this case they may be made liable to the jurisdiction by the direction of a chamber of the Cour de Cassation. In 1819 the Cours d'Assises were invested with the cognizance even of offences of the press; but by a law of the 25th of May, 1822, authors were deprived of the security of a trial by jury. However, by the law of 8th October, 1830, the cognizance both of offences of the press and of political offences was revested in a jury.* An act of 1824 transferred from the Cours d'Assises to the tribunals of police correctionelle, the trial of all persons under sixteen years of age who are accused of crimes which, on account of their youth, are punishable only by imprisonment, and who had no accomplices of maturer age; provided, however, that the offence be not such as in an older person would be punished with death, hard labour for life, or transportation.+ In our next number we shall give an account of the Cours Royales, and the other courts we have not yet mentioned. * Vide ante, p. 52. + The mode of proceeding in these courts is laid down at considerable length in the articles 309 to 380 of the Code d'Instruction Criminelle. ART V.-THE BARRISTER.*-No. 3. SECTION III. HIS DUTY TO THE COURT. 1. He is ever mindful of the respect due to the court.Whether it is the highest or lowest tribunal in the country, the House of Lords, or the Court of Pie Poudre, it is the place where justice is administered, and is a hallowed place. "When baseness is exalted, do not bate The place its honour, for the person's sake. Herbert. 2. If insulted he is more sensible of the injury to good feeling than to himself. He is not so ignorant of human nature as not to expect haughtiness from the proud, contempt from the rich, ill manners from the vulgar, foolish talking and impertinence from the ignorant and conceited;-he does not expect to gather figs of thorns. When Dr. Franklin came to England to implore the attention of our government to the representations made by America, he was ordered to attend at the privy council, where he was grossly insulted by Mr. Wedderburn; at the sallies of whose wit all the members of the council, except Lord North, were in fits of laughter. A day or two after he said to Mr. Lee, one of his counsel, "that to Mr. Wedderburn's conduct he was indifferent, but he was indeed sincerely sorry to see the lords of the privy council behave so indecently." 3. If insulted by an equal, he does not forget the respect due to the court, but suppresses his feelings until he has retired.Shallow streams are agitated by the wind, deep streams flow on. He knows that this tranquillity may have the appearance of timidity, but he heeds it not. Alas, what is the appearance of any thing? Quos ego-sed motos præstat componere fluctus, is his feeling. When the ecclesiastic insulted Don Quixote before the duke, the knight rose in indignation, but instantly said, "The place where I am, and the presence of the persons before whom I now stand, and the respect which I always have had and always shall have for men of your profession, tie up the hand of my just indignation." * Continued from page 94, and concluded. 4. If a judge forget himself, and the infirmities of human nature appear through the ermine, he laments that the charity of patience and the conduct of a gentleman should be found only in the advocate. He says with Sir Edward Coke, “If a river swelleth beyond the banks, it soon loseth its own channel; but, if another punish me by doing what is wrong, I will not punish myself." 5. If he forget himself and yield to anger, he does not suffer it to rankle in his mind. He remembers the anger of Hooker, which is said to have been like a phial of clear water, that, when shaken, beads at the top, but instantly subsides without soil or sediment of unkindness. 6. He does not interfere after the judge has decided.-He knows that perfection in the administration of justice consists in causes being fully heard, deeply considered, and speedily decided. When the cause has been fully heard, the advocate's duty is terminated. "Let not the counsel at the bar," says Lord Bacon, "chop with the judge, nor wind himself into the handling of the cause anew after the judge hath declared his sentence." SECTION IV. HIS DUTIES TO HIS PROFESSION. 1. Having shared the fruits, he endeavours to strengthen the root and foundation of the science of law."I hold,” says Lord Bacon, "that every man is a debtor to his profession, from the which, as men do of course seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves, by way of amends, to be a help and ornament thereunto." And Sir Edward Coke, differing as he did from Lord Bacon upon all subjects, except the advancement of their noble profession, expresses the same sentiment, almost in the same words. "If this," he says, "or any other of my works, may in any sort, by the goodness of Almighty God, who hath enabled me hereunto, tend to some discharge of that great obligation of duty wherein I am bound to my profession, I shall reap some fruits from the tree of life, and I shall receive sufficient compensation for all my labours." 2. He resists injudicious attempts to alter the law. Knowing that zeal is more frequent than wisdom, that the meanest trade is not attempted without an apprenticeship, but every man thinks himself qualified by intuition for the hardest of all trades, that of government, he is ever ready to resist crude proposals for amendment: his maxim is, "to innovate is not to reform." Lord Bacon, zealous as he was for all improvement; believing, |