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Procedure relative to the arrest of criminals.

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TITLE II.
Special Procedures for
Provosts of the Marshals of
France, Vice-bailiffs, Vice-
seneschals, & lower court
criminal lieutenants.

[...]

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ARTICLE IV.

WE enjoin them to arrest Criminals caught in the act of committing a crime, or in public uproar.

[...]

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ARTICLE VII.

WE require them to remit to the prisoners that they have arrested, a copy of the report of the arrest & to imprison them, [...]

ARTICLE IX.

The District Provosts, in arresting an Accused, are required to conduct an inventory of the moneys,

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clothes, horses & papers seized from him, in the presence of two Inhabitants close to the place of capture, who will sign the inventory; if not they will declare the reason for refusal, which will be noted; all this will be remitted within three days at the latest to the office of the Court in the place of capture [...].

ARTICLE X.

Upon capture, the Accused will be taken to the prison of the place, if there is one; if not to the closest one, within twenty-four hours at the latest. It is forbidden for the Provosts to hold the accused in their homes or elsewhere, under penalty of loss of their Office.
[...]

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ARTICLE XII.

THE accused will be interrogated by the Provost in the presence of the Assessor, within twenty-four hours of capture, under penalty of two hundred livres to Us. They may nevertheless be interrogated without an Assessor at the moment of capture.

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TITLE III.
Complaints, Denunciations, &
Accusations.

ARTICLE I.

COMPLAINTS may be formulated by ordinance, & will only carry the date of the day that the Judge, or in his absence the most senior Practitioner in the place responds to them.
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TITLE X.
Decrees, of their execution,
& acquittals.

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ARTICLE IX.

AFTER an accused caught in the act, or in public uproar, has been imprisoned, the judge will order that he be arrested and registered in the goaler's book, and a copy of the registration will be served to him in person.
[...]

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ARTICLE XVI.

THE Accused who has been arrested, will be led immediately to the prisons, without being detained in any private home; unless in the course of travel & in case of risk of abduction, which will be noted in the report of the arrest & travel to the prisons; under penalty of reprimand against the Provosts, Bailiffs or Sergeants, of a fine of one thousand livres to Us, & of damages & interest to concerned parties. [...]

Source: Louis XIV, "Procedure relative to the arrest of criminals, in l'Ordonnance ... pour les matières criminelles" (: Chez les Associés, n.d.).

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