CASEATION, COURT Or. In the law of France, the act of annulling the decision of a court or judicial tribunal is called cessation, 11.0111 the verb closer, to break or annul (Lat. quatere; Eng. quash); and the function of eassation, as regards the judgments of all the other courts, is assigned to a special tribunal called the court of C., which may thus be regarded. in a certain sense, as the last and highest court of appeal for the wnole coun try. But as everything is excluded beyond the question whether or not the view taken of the law, and of the proper method of adininistering it by the inferior tribunal, :.as been the right one, the idea attached to this institution is less that of a court in the ordi nary sense, than of a department of government to which the duty of inspecting the administration of justice is assigned. By the 65th article of the constitution of the year VIII., it was enacted that there shall be "for the whole of France a tribunal of cessa tion, which shall pronounce on demands for cessation against judgments in the last resort pronounced by the tribunals;" and the following article of the same constitution bears that this supreme tribunal shall pronounce no judgment on the foundation or merits of the cause, but that, in case of its breaking the judgment pronounced, it shall remit to the tribunal appealed from to pronounce another. The title of tribunal was afterwards changed for that of court, by a sertatus consultuin of the year XII.; but sub stantially the institution has retained its original character, notwithstanding all the changes of government which have occurred in France. The demand for eassation can be made only by the parties to the suit, or by the procureur-Oneral of the court of C. for the public interest. Criminal as well as civil judgment may be reviewed by the court of C., the only exceptions being the judgments of justices of the peace and of courts martial, military and naval. The delay allowed for bringing a civil case before the court of C. is three months for persons domiciled in France, six months for those in
Corsica, a year for American colonists, and two for all persons resident beyond the cape of Good Hope. In criminal matters, the procedure is greatly more prompt, three full days only being allowed to the person condemned to bring his action of C., and the same space being given to the procureur-general. In all criminal and police cases, the court of C. may pronounce judgment immediately after the expiry of these days, and must do so within a month. The court of C. is divided into three sections, one of which is devoted to criminal matters. Its staff consists of ,a president, who has the title of first president, and three vice-presidents, who are called presidents; 45 counselors or ordinary judges; a procureur-general, or public prosecutor; 6 substitutes, who have the title of advocates-general; and several inferior officers. The presidents and counselors are named by the sovereign for life, the other officers being removable at pleasure. No judgment can be pronounced unless 11 judges are present, the decision being determined by the majority. Where the numbers are equally divided, 5 judges are called in; and cases of peculiar difficulty may be judged of by the three sections united. The whole court, when presided over by the minister of justice, possesses also the right of discipline and censure over all judges for grsve offenses, not specially provided for by the law. When thus constituted, the court of C. may suspend the judges of the imperial courts from the exercise of their functions, and call them to its bar. The procureur-gimeral of the court of C. likewise possesses a surveillance over the procureurs-generaux of the imperial courts.
The members of this august tribunal wear a red gown with a violet toque, or cap of velvet; the robes of the presidents and of the procureur-general being doubled with white fur.