In France, a cour d'assises, or Court of Assizes or Assize Court, is a criminal trial court with original and appellate limited jurisdiction to hear cases involving defendants accused of felonies, meaning crimes as defined in French law. It is the only French court that uses a jury trial.[1] [2]
Under French criminal law, the definition of a French: [[French criminal law#Crime|crime]] is limited to any criminal act punishable by over ten years of prison, including murder and rape.
The cour d'assises, uniquely outside military law, could sentence proven convicts for serious crimes, e.g. murder (assassinat or meurtre) to the death penalty, until it was abolished from French law in September 1981. In the sentencing phase, a qualified majority would vote on the verdict, or 2/3 of the jury, the same procedure as in rendering the guilty verdict. One of the last famous death penalty trials, that of Patrick Henry in 1977, famously ended in a life sentence after the jury voted 7–5 in favour of a death sentence.
Cases are tried by a jury of six jurors and a panel of three active judges, that is, one judge-in-charge (called "president" of the court) and two associate judges (French: assesseurs), on first hearing, and a jury of nine jurors and a panel of three active judges on appeal. Lists of eligible jurors are put together at random from the list of registered voters, but both the prosecution and defense have the right to peremptory challenge and can refuse a juror without stating a reason.
Special procedures exist for the following categories of crimes and suspects:
The procedure before the Cour d'assises is oral: defendants and witnesses give their testimony before the court. Witnesses and their close relatives cannot be put under oath, since doing so could force them into self-incrimination or incrimination of a relative.
As in all French criminal trials, the victim is a party with his or her own attorney, besides the public prosecution. If the accused is convicted the court will, without the jury, rule on civil damages.
At the end of the trial, the judges and jurors retire. They first decide the question of guilt by answering a series of questions—e.g., "Did X murder Y?", "Did X premeditate the murder?" If a conviction results, they then rule on the appropriate penalty.[3] During this procedure, judges and jurors have equal positions on questions of facts, while judges decide questions of procedure. Judges and jurors have also equal positions on sentencing. Voting is secret and blank or invalid votes are counted in favor of the defendant.
Every département in France has its own cour d'assises. In the past, their verdicts could not be appealed to the Court of Appeal; prior to 2001, they could only be appealed to the Court of Cassation, which would review the case on points of procedure and law alone. When reversed, which was uncommon except for the death penalty, the Court would refer the de novo trial to another Assize court.
One argument in favor of this practice was that allowing appeals to be made to professional judges after a verdict had been rendered by a popular jury would in essence deny popular sovereignty. Since 2001, however, Assize court verdicts may be appealed on points of fact (including sentence) to another department's Assize court (chosen by the Court of Cassation) and heard before a larger jury. The case is then fully retried.
Appeals to the Court of Cassation are still possible on points of law and procedure after the first appeal (except in case of acquittal). If this appeal on law is denied, the verdict is final; otherwise, the Court of Cassation will quash (French: casse) the verdict and remand the case to the appeal court for a retrial of points of fact and law.