DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2022.12.39518

Abstract: The proposed article is devoted to the history of two reforms of military justice in Switzerland – 1799 and 1800. It describes a chronologically small but very important stage of the transition to a new military-judicial organization associated with foreign interference in the affairs of the country. The purpose of the study is to present the main changes in the military justice of Switzerland and the degree of influence on them of the French institutions of the late XVIII century. The object of study here is the military-judicial law of the Helvetic Republic, reflected in the laws of July 27, 1799 and November 24, 1800. The subject of the study is the process of reforming military justice in Switzerland at the reception of the norms of French law. When working on the materials of the topic, the comparative historical research method, contextual analysis of legal documents and structural and functional analysis of judicial and legal institutions of the two countries were applied.    As a result, the study showed that the reforms created a new system of military justice, which was connected only with the military organization and did not depend on the cantonal affiliation of military personnel. The reform of 1799 differed from the reorganization of 1800 by the greater radicalism and democracy of the institutions created, which corresponded to the political aspirations of various ruling groups that succeeded each other in the Helvetic Republic leadership. Nevertheless, both reforms were oriented towards the assimilation of the French experience of the military judicial system of the era of the Great Revolution. The borrowing of foreign military-judicial law in Helvetia was not limited to the complete copying of foreign norms, Swiss legislators were able to show a certain originality in their adoption. The main difference of the Swiss military judicial organization was the introduction of a three-tier system of military courts and the preservation of the institution of disciplinary councils, which in the French Republic by the end of the XVIII century already ceased to exist.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2021.12.37210

Abstract: The Institution of garnisaires was intended for providing lodging to bystanders in the homes of residents in order to comply with the requirements of the government. In France of the early XIX century, it was implemented as a repressive measure to ensure conscription of the recalcitrant. The article describes the legal regulation of the institution of garnisaires in conducting conscription in France of the period of the Consulship and the First Empire. The object of this research is the Institution of garnisaires in the early XIX century; while the changes in legal regulation of this institution throughout the ruling of the First Consul and Emperor Napoleon I. The article employs the normative legal acts of the early XIX century: imperial decrees, governmental acts, executive orders and instructions of the officials of the central and local administration; as well as contextual analysis of legal acts, comparative-historical, and chronological methods. Taking into account that the topic of legal regulation of the institution of garnisaires is poorly covered, the article comprehensively analyzes the content of the fundamental legal acts, determines the peculiarities of stern measures applied for maintaining conscription at different stages of the reign of Napoleon I. The conclusion is made that the legal regulation of the institution of garnisaires during the indicated period has evolved from the first attempts to establish the practice of lodgment as repression, initially not implying specific restrictions, to introduction of more balanced and detailed regulation of the institution with a range of restrictive measures. The formation of legal framework of the institution was completed by 1807–1808 with issuing of the decrees of the Emperor and instructions of the Director General of Military Conscription Jean-Girard Lacuée.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2021.11.36953

Abstract: This article contains material on the history of the Permanent Councils of Revision – bodies of military justice in France of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries, which is examined in the Russian historiography for the first time, as well as poorly studied in the French historiography. Leaning on the legislative acts and works of the French lawyers of that time, analysis is conducted on the procedure for the formation of the councils of revision, and determination of their judicial competence. The article also raises the question on correlation of the concepts of “revision” and “cassation” in French military justice of the end of revolutionary and post-revolutionary eras. Consideration of the provisions of French jurisprudence of the early XIX century allows concluding that the concept of “revision” could also include cassation of court judgments. Comparison of the permanent councils of revision, which carried out the functions of cassation of court decisions, with the Cassation Tribunal (in the imperial time – the Court of Cassation) did not allow to equate these bodies, which were created separately for military and civilian justice. Having a different procedure for the formation of bench of judges, the permanent councils of revision were granted the limited authority to conduct cassation and were not of equal importance to the Court of Cassation.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2020.12.34714

Abstract: This article questions the opinion established in modern French historiography on implementation of life sentence as a criminal punishment under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte (in accordance with the Criminal Code of 1810). Leaning on examination of legislative, policy drafting, and court materials, the author traces the evolution of the system of criminal penalties associated with incarceration. and determines the role of life sentence therein – since the adoption of first criminal laws in the era Great Revolution until the revision Napoleonic Criminal Code in 1832, and the court of Peers under Louis-Philippe I. The acquires materials demonstrate that after long absence of the  Consulate and Early Empire in the time of Revolution,  life sentence was envisaged by the Criminal Code of 1810 as an alternative measure to penal servitude for life or deportation (for criminals of senior age), rather than an separate type of criminal punishment. Reference to the practice of the court of Peers during the Restoration and the July Monarchy suggests that life sentence became a separate type of criminal punishment only with the advent of verdict passed by Peers with regards to 1830 case of former ministers. This sentence was based on the combination of legislative and court functions in actions of the Chamber of Peers as higher justice authority, and thus was of constitutive nature. The conclusion is made that the implementation of life sentence in French criminal law should be attributed to the time of the July Monarchy rather than the ruling of Napoleon Bonaparte.

DOI: 10.7256/2409-868X.2017.5.20877

Abstract: The subject of this research is the changes in legal regime of detention of the foreign prisoners of war in France during the ruling period of Napoleon I. The work examines the normative positions pertaining to places of dislocation, organization of work and daily life of the prisoners of war, their financial support administration and police supervision over them, as well as punishments for violation of order and discipline. Legal regulation was exercised on general imperial level alongside separate departments, which causes a question about the interaction of the imperial law with the local law. The article compares the imperial regulations with the acts of prefect of M. de Miramont existing in the Eure department in 1813 – 1814. The relevance of this topic is substantiate by the insufficient study in science of the relation of administrations of various departments towards the dislocated within them prisoners of war and peculiarities of legal regulation of their detention. The conclusion is made that that legal regime of detention of the foreign prisoners of war in France during the late Napoleonic era, to a significant extent is defined not by the general imperial regulations but the local stipulations. Acts of the prefecture issued in the Eure department, testify to the extensive freedom of lawmaking of a prefect in this field. Particularly, the acts of 1814 significantly expanded the authority of the local civil administration pertaining to the depot of prisoners of war within the department’s territory and enhanced its impact upon the military structure in the late ruling period of Napoleon I.