3. To do certain injuries that are neither crimes nor offences if done by an individual. Art. 684. The agreement constitutes the offence, and it is a distinct offence from any other that may be committed in carrying it into effect; and to complete the offence, it is not necessary that any act should be proved to have been done in furtherance of the agreement. Art. 685. But if the accused show that the design was abandoned, before any act was done towards its execution, voluntarily, and not from any obstacle, the punishment shall be lessened one-half. Art. 686. Where the conspiracy is to commit an offence, the punishment shall be one-half of that denounced by law against the offence which it was the object of the agreement to commit, if it be not carried into effect, and in addition to such punishment, if it is committed. Art. 687. Where the conspiracy is falsely to accuse and prosecute another of an offence, the punishment shall be one-half of that which would have been inflicted if the offence had been proved. Art. 688. It is not necessary, for supporting an indictment for a conspiracy, to accuse and prosecute; to show that the party has been acquitted on such prosecution; but if the prosecution, which is alleged to be false, be pending, the defendants in the indictment for conspiracy are entitled to have it tried before they are themselves put upon trial. Art. 689. The cases not comprehended in the foregoing articles of this chapter, and in which conspiracies become unlawful, are as follows, to wit: 1. Every one has a right, individually, to determine what he will give as a consideration for services or property to be furnished to him: he has the same right to withhold his own service or property, unless the value he shall place upon them be paid. But an agreement, stipulating that the parties to it will not give more than a certain price for any particular species of service or property, or that they will not furnish or render any such property or service for less than a stipulated price, is injurious to that free competition necessary to commerce. And if such agreement be made between two or more persons not being partners, it is a conspiracy, and shall be punished by simple imprisonment, for not more than three months, or by fine not exceeding three hundred dollars, or both. 2. If the agreement be made between employers, not to give above certain wages to workmen, imprisonment shall always form part of the sentence, and the imprisonment cannot be for less than ten days. 3. If the agreement constituting the conspiracy, in any case whatever, purport to inflict any injury on the person, property or reputation, of those who will not enter into such agreement, the punishment shall be doubled. 4. Any malicious combination or agreement to injure any individual, or description of persons, in their reputation, or profession, or trade, or property, by agreeing not to employ them, or by other means that would not otherwise amount to an offence, is a conspiracy, and shall be punished by fine, not exceeding two hundred dollars, or imprisonment, not exceeding sixty days, or both. 5. Any combination or agreement to raise the price of any articles of food, fuel or drink, is a conspiracy, and is punishable by fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars, and imprisonment, not exceeding three months. 6. An agreement of partners, solely between themselves, is not such an agreement as can constitute this offence, unless the partnership be specially entered into for the purpose of making such conspiracy; in which case, or whenever the benefit (if any) to be derived from the conspiracy is agreed to be participated, the punishment shall be doubled. 7. An agreement to abridge or increase the quantity or time of labour, comes within the description of limiting the price to be given, or determining that which must be received. GENERAL PROVISION. Of accessaries. Art. 690. All accessaries shall be punished by one-fourth of the punishment that would have been suffered by the principal offender; provided, that it shall, in no case, exceed a fine of three hundred dollars, and imprisonment, in close custody, for one year INTRODUCTORY TITLE. CHAPTER I. Preamble. Art. 1. It is not enough to have defined offences and designated the punishments adapted to them: every citizen must not only be taught what actions he is to avoid as offences, but must also be informed by what means he may prevent an injury he apprehends, or bring the offender to justice if the wrong be already suffered. Judges, other magistrates, and ministers of justice, must have their duties defined not only for their own guidance, but that, being generally understood, they may receive the high reward of public approbation, or suffer disgrace or punishment; as those duties are performed, neglected, or wilfully abandoned. These considerations have induced the general assembly of Louisiana to enact this Code of Procedure, forming a part of their System of Penal Law. It is divided into three books: The first contains the means of preventing offences, and of putting an end to such as continue; it designates the cases in which the military force may be employed in aid of the civil power, and prescribes the rules by which it shall be governed in that service. The second directs the mode of proceeding for bringing an offender to punishment, from the complaint to the final judgment. The third gives the forms to be used in all the judicial proceedings prescribed or authorized by this code. CHAPTER II. General provisions. Art. 2. This code being a part of the general system of Penal Law, all the words used herein, are employed in the same sense that is given to them when they are used in any other part of the system. Art. 3. All the general provisions in the second chapter of the first book of the Code of Crimes and Punishments, and all such general provisions in other parts thereof as apply to the subject of this code, |