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    [ From the Commonplace » Book of an Invalid . ] French laws clear , definite , and concise—Fewer crimes in France than in England-Horrible state and effects of French law before the Revolution- —Instances thereof —Vain attempts to reform—Effected by the National Assembly—Deteriorated by Bonaparte and the Bourbons—Right of the people to elect judges usurped by the former—Les Six Codes , 183 L

    France has the singular honour and invaluable privilege of possessing written , definite , and tangible laws . These she owes to her revolution brought about by an obstinate opposition of the privileged orders to timely reform , which rendered all attempts effectually to ameliorate her penal codes useless . The laws of France are contaiued in a closely-printed duodecimo volume

    which any man may carry in his pocket , and which few people in that country are without , unless they prefer one of larger size and somewhat greater expense * . Besides stationary courts of justice in Paris , as in London , but possessing a more limited jurisdiction , the courts of assize in the departments are held every three months , instead of twice a year , as in England . The principles

    and administration of justice in France , which are so well and clearly defined that no man can fairly plead ignorance of the , law in justification of its violation , forbid also justice from being perverted by the forced construction of the law on the part of the judges . The punishment of crime , therefore , upon conviction , is , as it ought to be , certain . Whatever is the cause , the commission

    of crime in France is far less than in England , and appears to be on the decrease . That this certainty of punishment on conviction contributes thereto , there can be no doubt ; but the chief reason for this is unquestionably the greater ease with which the wants of the people are supplied in France , and the consequent lesser temptation to commit crime . In all its bearings , the subject of

    the French jurisprudence is one of the highest interest , not only to the citizens of that country , but to foreigners , and to none more so than to Englishmen , particularly now that the great master spirit of the age has undertaken the herculean task of legal reform in this country ; for , although the French codes are by no

    means without their imperfections , and have been cruelly deteriorated by Bonaparte and the exiled Bourbons , they are perhaps the noblest monument to public justice ever yet erected by any nation . Before the revolution , on the caprices of a spoiled child forced into premature manhood—on the perverted understanding of the most profligate of mortals—the pampered vices of a creature

    * I have in my possession an unbound volume , 4 | inches by 3 , and barely 2 inclies thick , entitled « Lea Six Codes en Miniature ; ' with Appendix , containing tables of costs and analyses , published at La Libraire Ancienne et Modcrne , Valiua Royal . This volume contains the Charter and ail the laws of France . 1831 .

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    14

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    NOTICES OF FRANCE—No . 4 .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/14/