INTRODUCTORY TITLE.

THIS code is divided into two books, and each book into titles, chapters, sections and articles, numbered throughout the whole code.

The first book contains general provisions, applicable to prosecutions and trials; to the persons who are amenable to the penal laws of the state; to the circumstances under which all acts that would otherwise be offences may be justified or excused; to the repetition of offences; and to the case of different persons participating in the same offence, as principals, accomplices and accessaries.

The second book defines offences, and designates their punishments.

BOOK I.

CONTAINING GENERAL PROVISIONS.

CHAPTER I.

Containing general provisions relative to the operation of the penal laws of this state.

Art. 1. No act or omission done or made before the promulgation of the law which forbids it, can be punished as an OFFENCE.

Art. 2. If an act or omission be created an offence by one law, and the penalty be altered by another, no breach of the first law, committed before the promulgation of the second, can be punished by inflicting the penalty of the latter.

Art. 3. After a PENAL LAW is repealed, no person can be arrested, imprisoned, tried or condemned, for a breach of it while it was in force, unless the repealing law has an express provision to that effect.

Art. 4. The distinction between a favourable and unfavourable construction of laws is abolished. All penal laws whatever are to be construed according to the plain import of their words, taken in their usual sense, in connexion with the context, and with reference to the matter of which they treat.

Art. 5. When a second penal law shall direct a NEW PENALTY, the penalty of the first law shall be deemed to be abolished, unless the contrary be expressed.

Art. 6. A law which simply commands or forbids an act to be done, but which contains no denunciation of a penalty, can have none but civil effects; the act or omission which is forbidden cannot be punished as an offence.

Art. 7. The legislature alone has the right to declare what shall constitute an offence; therefore it is forbidden to punish any acts or omissions, not expressly prohibited, under pretence that they offend against the laws of nature, of religion, morality or any other rule, except written law.

Art. 8. Courts are expressly prohibited from punishing any acts or omissions which are not forbidden by the plain import of the words of the law, under the pretence that they are within its spirit. It is better that acts of an evil tendency should for a time be done with impunity, than that courts should assume legislative powers; which assumption is itself an act more injurious than any it may purport to

repress. There are, therefore, no constructive offences. The legislature, when the necessity appears, will bring such acts as ought to be punished within the letter of the law.

Art. 9. If, however, any penal law shall be so inaccurately drawn, as to bring within its penalty an act that it could not, in the opinion of the court, have been the intention of the legislature so to punish; the accused must be acquitted, but the court shall report such case to the legislature at their next session, or within eight days if they be in session.

Art. 10. When a competent tribunal, judging in the last resort, hath rendered a final judgment, acquitting or condemning the accused, on the merits of the charge against them, he can never be again prosecuted for the same offence.

Art. 11. An accusation being an affirmation of guilt, it must be proved to the satisfaction of those whose province it is to decide.

CHAPTER II.

General provisions relative to prosecutions and trials.

Art. 12. No person accused of any offence shall be compelled by violence or menace, to answer any interrogations relative to his innocence or guilt; nor shall his confession, unless it be given freely, without violence, menace, or promise of indemnity or favour, be produced in evidence against him.

Art. 13. No person shall be arrested to answer for any offence, but in the manner and on the evidence specially set forth in the Codes of Procedure and Evidence.

Art. 14. No SEARCH WARRANT shall issue in any case but in those provided for, and in the manner directed, in the Code of Procedure.

Art. 15. The accused, in every stage of the prosecution, is entitled to have advice of such counsellor at law, or other person, as may be employed by him for his defence. If he declare himself unable to procure counsel, the court shall assign him an advocate in the manner directed by the said code.

Art. 16. No trial for any CRIME shall be had, but in the presence of the accused. No examination of witnesses shall be used on such trial, but such as is taken in the joint presence of the court, the jury, the public prosecutor and the accused; all of whom shall have leave to question the witness. Those cases in which testimony is allowed to be taken by commission, and those which are specially provided for in the Code of Procedure, are excepted from the provisions of this article.

Art. 17. All trials for offences shall be held in public. All persons under no legal disability or restraint, have a right to be present at such trials; provided, however, that the court may, on the prayer of the prosecutor or the accused, direct witnesses to withdraw until they are called for examination; and may also, in the manner directed by the provisions of the Code of Procedure, remove such persons as shall obstruct the administration of justice.

Art. 18. The preceding article is subject to the restriction required by decency and morals, which are particularly provided for in the Code of Procedure.

Art. 19. All final judgments in trials for offences, with the reasons on which they are founded, shall be distinctly pronounced in open court, in the presence of the accused (if he be in custody), and they shall be entered at large on the minutes of the court. And in like manner all other judgments, orders or decisions, shall be pronounced and entered on the minutes, whenever either the public prosecutor or the accused shall require the same.

Art. 20. After a cause, whether civil or criminal, is decided, it shall be lawful for any one, by printing and in writing, as well as by speech, to discuss the reasons of any judgment, order or decree, given in the course of any such suit or prosecution, and to call in question the legality or propriety of the same.

Art. 21. The process to which the accused is entitled by the constitution, to compel the attendance of his witnesses, shall be granted for witnesses who may be in any part of the state, and the sheriff of any parish to whom the same may be directed, shall serve and return such process, and such witnesses shall be paid by the state, whenever the accused shall be acquitted, and whenever it shall appear to the court that the accused, if convicted, is unable to pay them.

Art. 22. All witnesses summoned to attend the trial of any offence, shall be protected from arrest in any civil suit, and in any penal suit for a misdemeanor, other than a breach of the peace, while attending on the court, and for a reasonable time, while going to or returning therefrom; unless it shall appear that the witness was summoned by collusion merely to protect him from arrest. And in case of any arrest, contrary to this article, any judge of any court of this state, either of criminal or civil jurisdiction, except justices of the peace, may grant relief by discharging the person arrested, first giving notice to the person causing the arrest, or to his agent.

Art. 23. No person after being acquitted or ordered to be discharged, shall be detained for the payment of any fees or costs attending the prosecution for which he has been discharged, or for the reimbursement of the sum allowed by the law for his support, or for any sums whatever due for his maintenance, or for services or supplies while he was in prison. Nor shall any court or magistrate give judgment in any suit against a person who has been acquitted or discharged for want of prosecution, if he shall be sued for any such fees, or for any such sum as is allowed by law for the maintenance of prisoners.

Art. 24. The trial by jury, as regulated in the Code of Procedure, is declared to be the mode of trial for all offences, and it cannot be renounced.

Art. 25. There shall be no trial for any CRIME but on indictment, nor for any MISDEMEANOR but on indictment or information, in the manner directed by the Code of Procedure.