JU8TICE AND CRIME 849
of Paris ; and the French Schools at Athens, Rome, Cairo and Indo-China, besides a school for Morocco.
Outside Paris there are eight observatories (Meudon, Besancon, Bordeaux, &c. ). The observatory at Nice is dependent on the Academy of Sciences.
Professional and Technical Instruction. — The principal institutions of higher ox technical instruction dependent on other ministries are : the Con- servatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris (with 20 evening courses on the applied sciences and social economy), the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manu- factures, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, 12 higher schools of commerce with about 600 pupils, dependent on the Ministry of Commerce ; the National Agronomic Institute at Paris, the Veterinary school at Alfort, a school of forestry at Nancy, national agricultural schools at Grignon, Rennes, Montpellier, 46 practical schools of Agriculture, kc, dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture ; the Ecole Polytecnnique, the Ecole Superieure de Guerre, the military school at St. Cyr, the Ecole de Cavalerie at Saumur, and other schools dependent on the Ministry of "War ; the Naval School at Brest dependent on the Ministry of Marine ; the School of Mines at Paris, the School of Bridges and Roads at Paris, with other schools dependent on the Ministry of Public Works ; the School of Mines at St. Etienne, and the Schools of Miners at Alais and Douai ; the Ecole Coloniale at Paris, dependent on the Ministry of the Colonies. The Ecole des Beaux Arts, the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, and the Conservatoire de Musique et de Declamation depend on the department of the Under Secretary for the Fine Arts, which is attached to the Ministry of Public Instruction. In the provinces there are National schools of fine arts, and schools of music, and also several municipal schools as well as free subventioned schools, etc.
Technical schools of a somewhat lower grade (dependent on the Ministry of Commerce) are very numerous, comprising six national schools of arts .and trades (Aix, Angers, Chalons, Cluny, Lille, Paris), two schools of horo- logy, four national professional schools, 33 practical schools of commerce and industry (of which seven are for girls), 20 practical schools of industry : there are also 35 schools of industries, with 5,550 pupils ; 13 municipal professional schools in Paris, with 1,385 pupils, and about 370 private schools, with 92,000 pupils.
Justice and Crime.
The Courts of lowest jurisdiction in France are those of the Justices of Peace (juges de paix, one in each canton) who try small civil cases and act also as judges of Police Court3, where all petty orlences {contraventions) are disposed of. The Correctional Courts pronounce upon all graver offences {ddliis), including cases involving imprisonment up to 5 years. They have no jury, and consist of 3 judges belonging to the civil tribunals of first instance. In all cases of a cUlit or a crime the preliminary inquiry is made in secrecy by an examining magistrate (juqe a" instruction), who may either dismiss the case or send it for trial before a court where a public prosecutor (Procureur) endeavours to prove the charge. The Court of Assizes is assisted liy 12 jurors, who decide by simple majority on the fact with respect to offences amounting to crimes. The highest courts are the 26 Courts of Appeal, composed each of one President and a variable number of members, for all criminal cases which hare been tried without a jury : and one Court of Cassation which sits at Paris, for all criminal cases tried by jury, so far as regards matters of law.
For civil cases, wherein the amount in dispute is between 200 and 1,500
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