999,452 tons in 1836; and 1,619,160 tons | by making notches or indents in these tablets, but afterwards they covered them with wax, and used a style to write with. in 1841; and of the quantity last mentioned 992,226 tons were received from Belgium, 196,502 from the Rhenish provinces of Prussia and Bavaria, and 429,950 from the United Kingdom. The import duty on sea-borne coal was reduced in 1834 from a uniform rate of fifteen francs per ton, to three, six, and ten francs per ton, according to the district into which it was imported; and on coal brought by land-carriage the duty was reduced from three francs to one-half that amount. In 1841 the increase of imports was 130 per cent., and the productiveness of the French mines had in the same time increased 65 per cent. (Mining Industry in France, by G. R. Porter, Esq., F.R.S.; Journ. of Lond. Stat. Soc., No. 6, 1838, and part iv. vol. vii., Dec. 1844.) In Belgium there are 352 coal-mines. The Belgian coal is conveyed inland into France as far as Rouen, where it comes into competition with English coal. In 1834 the quantity of coal raised in Prussia was 1,810,000 tons; and in 1839 the quantity had increased to 2,442,632 tons. The coal from the Rhenish provinces comes down the Rhine into Holland, and it also enters into competition with English coal. In 1837 the produce of the coal-mines in the German Customs' Union (including Prussia) was 10,393,470 tons. In the United States of North America there are extensive collieries in Pennsylvania. Out of 863,489 tons (of 28 bushels) of anthracite coal raised in 1840 in the North American Union, 859,686 tons were raised in Pennsylvania; and out of a total of 27,603,191 bushels of bituminous coal, 11,620,654 bushels were raised in Pennsylvania, 10,622,345 bushels in Virginia, and 3,513,409 bushels in Ohio. Nearly 7000 persons were employed in coal-mines in the United States in 1840. CODE, CODEX. The original meaning of the Latin word Caudex or Codex was the trunk or stem of a tree. Before the use of more convenient materials, wooden tablets were employed by the ancients for writing on. Such a written tablet was called Codex, of which Codicillus is a diminutive. First they wrote The notion of the word was then extended, and it had several new significations. 1. Codex denoted any hand-writing on parchment, or paper, or ivory, or other material (Dig. 32, s. 52). 2. The diminutive Codicilli (codicil) was used in the plural number in various senses, and finally in that of a testamentary writing. 3. A collection of laws was also called Codex, and is now called a Code in modern languages, as in English and French. In this sense the word is now most commonly used. There are several kinds of codes. A code may be made by merely collecting and arranging in a chronological or systematic order the existing laws of a state, which have been made at various times by the sovereign power. Such a collection is either made by public authority, as was the case with the Codex Theodosianus and Codex Justinianeus, or by private individuals, as was the case with the Codex Gregorianus and Hermogenianus. The Germans call collections of old German laws, made in the middle ages, "Rechtsbücher" (books of law). A code (in German Gesetzbuch, book of laws), by which the legislative power makes a new system of laws, is very different from a compilation of existing laws. A mere arrangement and classification of existing laws is more properly called a Digest (Digesta), which is the Roman name for one of Justinian's legal compilations. If to this classification and arrangement selection be superadded, it would still be properly only a Digest. A code, though it may adopt many existing laws and customs, is now generally used to express a new system, founded on new fundamental principles; such principles, for instance, as are set forth in Bentham's Leading Principles of a Constitutional Code for any State.' In England, for example, if it were proposed to make a code in the modern sense, it might be found useful or necessary to modify the law of tenures, or to abolish certain kinds of tenures, such as customary tenures; and also to provide positive rules for numerous cases that are still either unprovided for or left doubtful by conflicting decisions, or decisions regarded as of little authority. CODES, LES CINQ, is the name given to several compilations of laws, civil and criminal, made in France after the revolution, and under Bonaparte's administration. They consist of the Code Civil, Code de Procédure Civile, Code de Commerce, Code d'Instruction Criminelle, and Code Pénal. To these has been added the Code Forestier, or regulations concerning the woods and forests, promulgated under Charles X. in 1827. Hence the whole collection is sometimes called 'Les Six Codes.' But even this name is not correct, as, in addi- | tion to the six already mentioned, there are the following codes: Code Administratif; Code de l'Armée; Code des Avocats; Code de la Chasse; Code de la Contrainte par Corps; Code des Contribuables; Code des Cultes; Code Electoral; Code de l'Enregistrement (which includes the Stamp laws); Code de l'Expropriation par Cause d'Utilité Publique; Code des Frais, for regulating the official charges of courts of law; Code de la Garde Nationale; Code de l'Instruction Publique; Code Municipal et Départemental; Code des Officiers Ministériels (advocates, notaries, &c.); Code des Patentes; Code de la Pêche Fluviale; Code des Poids et Mesures; Code de la Police Médicale; Code de la Presse; Code de la Propriété Industrielle et Littéraire; Code Rural; Code des Tribunaux; Code de la Voirie (rivers, canals, highways, streets, and public vehicles). The Charte of 1830 is sometimes called the Code Politique. Court of Cassation, Bigot de Préameneu, Portalis, and Malleville, to draw up a project of a civil code. The project was printed early in 1801, and copies were sent to the different courts of France for their observations and suggestions. The observations and suggestions were likewise printed, and the whole was then laid before the section of legislation of the council of state, which consisted of Boulay, Berlier, Emmery, Portalis, Roederer, Réal, and Thibaudeau. Bonaparte himself, and Cambacérès, his colleague in the consulship, took an active part in the debates. The various heads of the code were successively discussed, after which they were laid before the tribunate, where some of the provisions met with considerable opposition. The code, however, passed at length both the tribunate and the legislative body, and was promulgated in 1804 as the civil law of France-Code Civil des Français.' Under the empire its name was changed into that of Code Napoléon, by which it is still often designated, though it has now officially resumed the original title of Code Civil. This code defines the civil rights of Frenchmen, and their legal relations to each other and to society at large. In its general arrange ment and distribution it resembles the Institutions of Justinian. It consists of three books, divided into titles or heads, each of which is subdivided into chapters and sections. Book I., in eleven heads, treats of persons; specifies their civil rights; regulates the means by which their rights are certified; prescribes the mode of registering births, marriages, and deaths; defines the conditions which constitute the legal domicile of each indi Civil Code.-The old Jaws of the French kingdom were founded partly on the Roman law, partly on the customs of the various provinces, and partly on the ordi-vidual; and provides for cases of absence. nances of the kings. Having been abrogated at the Revolution, several attempts were made, by Cambacérès among others, to form a code adapted to the altered state of society; but the fury of the internal factions, the cares of foreign war, and the frequent changes of rulers, prevented any calm deliberation on the subject during the first years of the Revolution. After Bonaparte became First Consul, he appointed, in 1800, a commission, consisting of Tronchet, president of the It treats of marriage as a civil contract, the forms required, the obligations resulting from it, and lastly, of separation and divorce. The articles concerning divorce, which gave rise to much debate and opposition at the time, have been repealed since the Restoration, and separation alone is now allowed. The code proceeds to treat of the relations of father and son, of legitimate and natural children, of adoption and guardianship, and of paternal power. Under this last head, the French code, without adopting the rigid principle of the old Roman law in its full extent, gives to a father the right of imprisoning his son during his minority for a term not exceeding six months, by a petition to that effect, addressed to the president of the local court, who, after consulting with the king's attorney, may give the order of arrest without any other judicial forms being required. The remaining heads treat of minority and emancipation; majority, which is fixed, for both sexes, at 21 years complete; of interdiction, and of trustees who are appointed in certain cases to administer the property of a man who is incapable of doing it himself. Book II. treats of property. The 1st head draws the distinction between meubles and immeubles, or personal and real property; though these two words do not exactly express, to an English lawyer, the distinction between meubles and immeubles. The 2nd defines the different rights of ownership. The 3rd treats of usufruct, use, and habitation. The 4th concerns rural servitudes, the prædiorum servitutes of the Roman law: all former personal servitudes were abolished at the Revolution. Book III. treats of the various modes by which property is legally acquired, such as inheritance, donation inter vivos, and wills or testaments. A father can dispose by testament | of one-half of his property if he has only one legitimate child, of one-third only if he has two, and of one-fourth if he has three or more. The law then proceeds to treat of contracts, and specifies the modes of proving them by written documents, official or private, or by witnesses, or lastly by presumption. The 5th head treats of marriage, and the respective rights of husband and wife according to the terms of the marriage contract. Next come the heads of sales, exchanges, leases, partnerships, loans, deposits, and sequestration. The 12th head concerns the contracts called aléatoires, which depend in a great measure upon chance, such as insurance, annuities, &c. The law treats next of power of attorney, of bail and security, and of amicable compromise. The 18th head concerns privileged creditors and mortgages. This subject is very elaborately treated, and has been much extolled as a very valuable part of the Civil Code, on account of the security which it gives to property by means of the public offices for registering mortgages, of which there is one in every district. The registration of mortgages has been adopted in most of the Italian states, and other countries besides France; but even this system is not considered perfect, because there is no obligation to register every sale or transmission of property, nor the servitudes affecting property; and because the French code admits of sales by private contract, and of mortgages in favour of minors or wives, even without registration. In this particular the Austrian code is considered superior, because it enforces the registration of every transmission of property, and of every burthen or servitude, in the book of census, or cadasto, for each district. (Grenier, Traité des Hypothèques, 1824: Introduction.) The nineteenth head of the French civil code treats of expropriation or seizing, or selling off by execution; and the twentieth, or last, of prescription. Much has been written on the merits and defects of this celebrated code. In order to judge of its value, we ought to read the reports of the discussions in the council of state by the most distinguished jurists of France. (Locré, Esprit du Code Napoléon tiré de la Discussion, 6 vols. 8vo., 1805; and Malleville, Analysis raisonnée de la Discussion du Code Civil au Conseil d'Etat, 4 vols., Svo., 1807.) On the other side, several distinguished German jurists have pointed out its imperfections. (Savigny, On the Aptitude of our Age for Legislation, translated from the German by a barrister of Lincoln's Inn; Rehberg, Ueber den Code Napoleon, Hanover, 1814; Thibaut, Schmidt, &c.) With regard to the part which Bonaparte took in its discussion, not as a professional man, but as a quicksighted observer and critic, a lively account is given in Thibaudeau's Mémoires sur le Consulat, in which his own original expressions are preserved. Code de Procedure Civile.-The Code de Procédure is divided into two parts. The first part treats of the various courts. 1st. Of the justices of peace and their jurisdiction. There are about 2840 of Cassation—these are essential and lasting these magistrates in France, whose powers advantages. are very similar to those of magistrates in England in matters of police; but they also decide petty cases not exceeding 200 francs, and in certain cases not exceeding 100 francs their decision is without appeal. They also act as conciliators between parties at variance, who are not allowed to take proceedings in a court without having first appeared before the juge de paix. 2nd. Of the process before the tribunaux de première instance, which try civil cases without jury. There is one of these courts in every arrondissement. 3rd. Of appeals to the Cours Royales, of which there are 27 established in the larger towns, each having several departments under its jurisdiction: these courts try cases by jury. 4th. of various modes of judgment. 5th. Of the execution of judgments. The second part treats of the various processes for the recovery of property, separation between husband and wife, interdiction and cession of property by an insolvent debtor. Foreigners are excluded from the benefit of the cessio bonorum. The code then passes to the subject of inheritance, the affixing of seals, taking inventories, &c. The last book treats of arbitration. The Code de Procédure was in great measure founded on the ordonnance promulgated in 1667 by Louis XIV., but with considerable ameliorations. It was framed by a commission appointed in 1800, then discussed in the council of state and the tribunate, and lastly passed by the legislative body. It was put in force in January, 1807. The expenses, duties, fees, &c. attending civil process are now regulated by the Code des Frais. The principal reproach made against the Code de Procédure is the multiplicity of formalities, written acts, registrations, stamps, &c. Another objection is, that in actions in which the state is concerned, it has advantages over private parties. But the publicity of the discussions, the security to all civil proceedings by means of registration, the well-defined authority of the various courts, the independence of the judges, and the establishment of local courts all over the country, and above all the institution of the supreme Court of The Code de Commerce was promul gated in January, 1808. It was founded in some measure upon the ordonnances of 1673-81 of Louis XIV. On account of the many modifications which the Code of 1805 had undergone, a new text of the Code was promulgated in January, 1841. The Code de Commerce is considered the best part of French legislation. The institution of the commercial tribunals has been of great advantage to France, and has been adopted in other countries. These courts, of which there are 213, consist of a president and two or more judges, all chosen by the merchants among themselves, and for a limited time; they are not paid, but the greffier or registrar receives a salary. The Code de Commerce consists of four books: the first treats of commerce in general, of the various descriptions of commercial men, of the keeping of books, of companies and partnerships, of brokers, commissioners, carriers, &c.; the second treats of maritime commerce, shipping, insurances, bankruptcy, &c.; the third concerns bankruptcies; and the fourth treats of the commercial tribunals, their jurisdiction and proceedings. By a law of April, 1838, appeals in matters above 1500 francs (formerly 1000 francs) lie to the Cour Royale of the district. Code d'Instruction Criminelle.-The criminal laws of France under the monarchy were defective, confused, and arbitrary. There was no penal code, but there were various ordonnances for the punishment of particular offences. The ordonnance of Louis XIV. for regulating proceedings in criminal cases introduced something like uniformity, but it maintained torture and secret trial. Torture was abolished by Louis XVI. The first National Assembly in 1791 recast the criminal legislation, introduced the trial by jury, and remodelled the criminal courts after those of England. Bonaparte, when First Consul, appointed a commission, consisting of Viellard, Target, Oudard, Treilhard, and Blondel, to frame a criminal code. The fundamental laws were drawn up in 1801, and were then discussed in the council of state. Bonaparte took a lively part in these first discussions, especially on the institution of the jury, which he strongly opposed on the ground of the probable incapacity or party spirit of jurors: he looked upon the question in a political rather than a judicial light. Portalis, Simeon, Bigot de Préameneu, and Ségur sided with Bonaparte. Treilhard, Berlier, Defermon, Crétet, Bérenger, Merlin, and Louis Bonaparte defended the jury. There is an interesting account of this discussion in Thibaudeau (vol. vii. pp. 88, &c.). The question being put to the vote, the majority was in favour of the jury. The matter, however, was finally settled by suppressing the jury d'accusation, or grand jury, and retaining the jury de jugement. The jurors are taken from the electors who are qualified to vote for a member of the legislature, graduates in law, medicine, and other sciences, notaries, members of the Institute, and of other learned bodies recognised by the State, officers on half-pay who have been domiciled for five years in the department, and whose pay amounts to 1200 francs a-year, &c. A list of persons so qualified is made out by the prefect of the department, from which the President of the Cour Royale, or of the Cour d'Assise, selects the number required The proceedings in criminal trials are partly written and partly oral. The accused is first brought before the procureur du roi (king's attorney), who examines him, and simply reports the case to the juge d'instruction, without giving any opinion upon it. At the same time, if the accused is charged with a crime punishable with personal and degrading penalties, he orders his detention. For mere délits or misdemeanors, bail is allowed. The juge d'instruction summons and examines the witnesses, and then sends back the report to the procureur du roi, who makes his remarks on the case, which is then laid before the chambre de conseil. consisting of three judges of the tribunal de première instance. These judges investigate the case minutely, and decide if there is ground for further proceedings. In such case the report is laid before the chambre d'accusation, composed of five judges of the Cour Royale, who ultimately decide for commitment or acquittal. If committed for a crime punish to serve. | able by peines afflictives or infamantes, the prisoner takes his trial before the next cour d'assise of the department. If for mere délit or misdemeanor, he is sent before the correctional tribunal. The courts of assize consist of two of the judges of the Court of First Instance of the town, and the president is a member of the Cour Royale of the department. Their sessions are held every three months in the chef lieu of each department. The jury vote by ballot, and decide by a majority on the fact of the charge; eight constitute a majority. The mode of voting was regulated by a new law, May, 1836. The court then awards the sentence, having a discretion between a maximum and a minimum penalty. By a law passed in 1831 the court was prohibited from setting aside the verdict of the jury and referring the case to a new trial; but by the law of September, 1835, the judges can order the case to be tried at the next assizes by a new jury, when they must pronounce sentence according to the verdict, although it may not differ from that of the first jury. The prisoner may challenge twelve jurors. One or two juges d'instruction are attached to each court of assize for criminal cases; they are generally taken from among the juges de première instance, and for a definite time only. The Code d'Instruction Criminelle consists of the following books: 1. Of the judiciary police and the various officers whose duty it is to inquire after offences, collect the evidence, and deliver the prisoners to the proper courts. These officers are very numerous, including the maires and their assistants, the commissaries of police, the rural guards and forest-keepers, the justices of the peace, the king's attorneys and their substitutes, the juges d'instruction, &c. It also treats of the manner of proceeding by the king's attorney, as already stated; and of the juge d'instruction and his functions. Book 2 treats of the various courts; tribunaux de simple police, which take cognizance of petty offences, and can inflict imprisonment of not more than five days, and a fine not exceeding fifteen francs; tribunaux en matière correctionelle, which are composed of at least three judges of the tribunaux de première instance, and take cognizance of délits or misdemeanors, |