The system of judicial torture, which has been the disgrace of France for many years, has at last received its death-blow. Under the Napoleonic Code the inge d'instruction has hitherto had full power to keep a prisoner in solitary confinement for any length of time, to deprive him of all communication with the outer world, and in fact do anything, short of inflicting absolute physical torture, to extract an' admission. The abuse of the arbitrary powers has been often exemplified and the only wonder is that they should have remained intact #0 long. The matter has been brought before Parliament several times during the last twenty years but the reform was not voted until last week. It dees not go by any means far enough, but still "it is something for every resident in France to be thankful for. It is now enacted that the accused arrested on a warrant shall be examined by the inge d'instruction within 24 hours of incarceration. The magistrate must inform the accused of the charges against him and take down his statements, after informing him that he is free not to make any. If the arrest is maintained, the prisoner shall be entitled to name his legal adviser and if he is without means an advocate shall be appointed to defend him, if he so desire. The prisoner is to be free to communicate with his counsel at any time after the preliminary examination, and, without his consent, he cannot be examined in his counsel's absence. Counsel, however, cannot address the court or examine witnesses without the magistrate's permission. It will be seen that the only additional guarantee supplied by the new law is the presence of the advocate to advise his client during the instruction. These proceedings are closed to the public, as before, and the period of detention is still left to the magistrate's discretion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.