POLITICAL CRIME

DISMISSAL of the appeal of Gorguloff (Paul) against the judgment of the Assize Court of the Seine, of July 27, 1932, which condemned him to the death penalty, for murder. THE COURT, Ouï Councilor Le Marc’hadour, in his report; Maîtres de Lapanouse and Rouvière, lawyers at the Court, in their observations, and Mr. Attorney General Matter, in his conclusions;
On the first plea of ​​violation of articles 263, 395 of the Code of Criminal Instruction, 16 of the law of April 20, 1810 and 39 of the decree of July 6, 1810, in that, according to the list of jurors notified to the accused, on July 23, 1932, the session was to be opened from July 16, 1932 under the chairmanship of Councilor Pittié,
Whereas the minutes of the debates and the contested judgment state that the Assize Court was made up of the first president Dreyfus, presiding for the Gorguloff affair, and advisers Barnaud and Villette, first and second assessors; Whereas in the absence of any complaint formulated by the accused or by his defenders during the debates, the judges who made up the Assize Court must be presumed to have been called to it in accordance with the prescriptions of the law; Whereas nothing has been proven to the contrary, and that the act of notification of the jury list, dated July 23, 1932 and invoked by the means, far from contradicting the statements of the report and the judgment, bring to the attention of the accused the names of the jurors for the session which will open on July 16, 1932 “and will be chaired by Mr. Counselor Barnaud”, who, the first president having used, in the case, the right conferred on him by article 16 of the law of April 20, 1810, therefore regularly sat as first assessor in accordance with article 39 of the decree of July 6, 1810; That the plea must, therefore, be rejected. article 39 of the decree of July 6, 1810; That the plea must, therefore, be rejected. article 39 of the decree of July 6, 1810; That the plea must, therefore, be rejected.
On the second plea taken from the violation of articles 5 of the constitution of 4 November 1848, 1 of the law of 8 June 1850 and 86 of the Penal Code, in that the judgment applied the death penalty to a crime of which the political character emerged from the indictment and from the very terms of the jury’s statement: Whereas by the jury’s statement, Gorguloff was found guilty of having, willfully and with premeditation, killed “Monsieur Doumer ( Paul), President of the French Republic “; Whereas it is maintained that the political character of the facts declared constant by the jury emerging both from the statements of Gorguloff, reported in the indictment, and from the very terms of the statement of the jury,
But whereas article 5 of the aforementioned constitution only benefits exclusively political crimes and not assassination which, by its nature and whatever the motives, constitutes a common law crime; That it does not lose this character by the fact that it was committed on the person of the President of the Republic, article 86 of the Penal Code, which, by a survival of the crime of lèse-majesté, specifically provided for the attacks against the life or against the person of the Emperor or members of the imperial family, finding themselves, following the disappearance of the monarchical regime, implicitly abrogated; And whereas the procedure is regular and that the penalty was legally applied to the facts declared constant by the jury;

Publication: Bulletin 1932 N ° 207
The major judgments of criminal jurisprudence, Cujas editions, n ° 70 p. 261, notes Marc PUECH. Dalloz 1932 p. 121, conclusions of Attorney General Matter. Contested
decision: Cour d’Assises de la Seine 1932-07-27

Case law precedents:
To be compared: (1) Cour de cassation, criminal chamber, 1861-06-06 Bulletin 1861 n ° 112. Cour de cassation, criminal chamber, 1885 -01-08, Bulletin 1885 n ° 18. (2) Cour de cassation, criminal chamber, 1849-03-09, Dalloz 1849 I p. 61. Court of cassation, criminal chamber, 1852-04-10, Bulletin 1852 n ° 120. Court of cassation, criminal chamber, 1931-01-08, Bulletin 1931 n ° 4.
Constitution cited:Constitution 1848-11-04 art. 5