LOI en forme d'Instruction, pour la Procédure criminelle. Do - Lot 127

LOI en forme d'Instruction, pour la Procédure criminelle. Donnée à paris, le 21 Octobre 1791. S.l. [Toulon], De l'Imprimerie de Mallard, s.d. In-4, 76 pages, in thread-sewn leaves. Important law detailing the organization of the new criminal procedure in France. It was published a few weeks after the promulgation of the first French penal code. "The National Assembly, in its concern to provide for public safety through the repression of offenses that disturb society, felt that the accomplishment of this goal required the cooperation of two powers, that of the police and that of justice. The police, considered in relation to public safety, must precede the action of justice; its vigilance must be its principal character: society as a whole is the essential object of its solicitude". For the trial of criminal cases, the law provides for the creation of a special court in each département: this institution is the origin of the cour d'assises. Note the use in the text (pp. 3 and 14) of new terms that appeared during the Revolution: police officer, national gendarmerie (new name for the maréchaussée from 1791) and arrest warrant. This provincial edition was printed by Mallard, printer to the Var department assembly, to be sent to the department's district administrations. Pen notation on first page: St-Tropez. Handwritten signatures at the end.