The Code of Offences and Penalties (
French: ''Code des délits et des peines'') was a
criminal code
A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
adopted in
revolutionary France by the
National Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
on 25 October 1795 (the 3rd of Brumaire of the year IV under the
French Republican Calendar).
With 646 articles, the code deals with judicial organization,
criminal procedure
Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail ...
, and . It distinguishes between the functions of
administrative police, which is concerned with the prevention of crimes and offenses, and
judicial police, which is concerned with the investigation of crimes and identification of suspects. This distinction is still in force today and is a functional distinction, which does not necessarily imply an organizational separation: a single organization may be charged with carrying out both types of police functions: one example is the
National Gendarmerie
The National Gendarmerie ( ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police (France), National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Minister ...
.
The code is notable for abandoning corporal (afflictive) penalties, with the exception of the death penalty, and for creating prison sentences, the harshest of which is known as the ''peine de la gêne'', and consists of a fifty-year
imprisonment
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
in a windowless cell without any possibility of communication with either outside persons or inmates.
See also
*
French criminal law
French criminal law is "the set of legal rules that govern the State's response to offenses and offenders". It is one of the branches of the Legal system, juridical system of the France, French Republic. The field of criminal law is defined as ...
References
External links
Code des délits et des peines du 3 brumaire, an 4 (25 octobre 1795) contenant les lois relatives à l'instruction des affaires criminelles(in French)
*
French criminal law
Legal history of France
1795 events of the French Revolution
Criminal codes
1795 in law
{{Criminal-law-stub