STATES EVIDENCE, a term in common use to describe the testimony of an accom plice in a crime against the other principals, given under an agreement, expressed or understood, with the prosecuting officer, that the informer shall go unpunished in con sideration of his aid to the state. Such evidence is regarded as of little value if uncor roborated by other witnesses or circumstances; and it is usual for the court to instruct the jury that it is to be regarded with suspicion unless confirmed in material points by other testimony. It is for the states-attorney or other prosecuting agent to determine in what cases and with which parties an agreement can properly be made without com promising the interest of justice and good order.
gOnOraux), the name which was given to the convocation of the representative body of the three orders of the French kingdom; so named in contra distinction from the 'tats provinciaux, or assemblies of the provinces. As far back as the time of Charlemagne, there were assemblies of clergy and nobles held twice a year to deliberate on matters of public importance; and in these assemblies the extensive body of laws bearing the name of the capitularies of Charlemagne was enacted. The succeed ing centuries, however, were adverse to free institutions; and these national convocations, becoming gradually less important, seem to have ceased to he held about 70 years after Charlemagne's death. From that time forward, there is no trace of any national assem bly in France till 1302, when the 'tats generaux, including the three orders of clergy, nobles, and citizens, were convened by Philippe le Bel, with the view of giving greater weight to the course adopted by the king in his quarrel with pope Boniface VIII. In 1314 we find the states-general granting a subsidy: during the reigns of Philippe IV. and his successor, the imposition of taxes by arbitrary authority was the subject of gen eral discontent; and in 1355 the states were strong enough to compel the government to revoke the taxes so imposed. The states-general, however, though their consent
seems in strictness to have been considered requisite for any measure imposing a general taxation, had, unlike the assemblies under the Carlovingian kings, no right of redressing abuses except by petition, and no legislative power. Under Charles VI. and Charles VII. the states-general were rarely convened, and it was often found more convenient to ask supplies from the provincial states. But as the royal authority increased, the for mality of any convention of states general or provincial gradually ceased to be regarded as indispensable, and a final and unsuccessful struggle for immunity from taxation took place at the states-general of Tours in 1484. Louis XIII. convoked the states-general, after a long interval, in 1614. but dismissed them for looking too closely into the finances; and from that thou down to the revolution, the crown, with the tacit acquiescence of the people, exercised the exclusive powers of taxation and government. In 1789 the mem orable convention of the states-general took place, which ushered in the revolution. As soon as they had assembled, a dispute arose between the two privileged orders and the third estate as to whether.they should sit and vote in one chamber or separately. The tiers 'tat, of its own authority, with such deputies of the clergy as chose to join them —none of the nobles accepting their invitation—assumed the title of the assemblie nationale, a name by which the states-general had previously been sometimes designated. SCC ASSEMBLY NATIONAL.
The name states-general is also applied to the now existing legislative body of the kingdom of the Netherlands (q.v.). It is so called in contradistinction from the provin cial states, which arc legislative and administrative assemblies for the several provinces.