POLICE COURTS IN BELGIUM.
BEING desirous of seeing how matters are worked in Belgian criminal courts, I found my opportunity during a recent visit to the ancient city of Bruges. Unfortunately none of the superior courts were sitting, but the judges were disposing of what we should call "night charges," in the Court of Police Correctionelle, and accordingly I sought admission. It struck me, first of all, that the machinery of justice was considerably in excess of the requirements of the case. The matters that came before the bench were all of the very smallest importance, the most grievous offence that was tried being a theft of pears from a fruit stall in the market. To manage this there were three judges,—namely, the president of the court and two other judges. All three were in full legal attire, with long robes, a white band, crimped instead of being ironed out flat like the English bands, and a high black cap instead of a wig. In addition to these was an official, also in robes, attached to the Government, who took notes of the cases, and another gentleman who did nothing at all, except to put an occasional question to the witnesses and to chat with the judges. There was, beyond these, a clerk, whose duty apparently it was to attend to the summonses, and there was a functionary who acted as usher. He called the cases on, administered the oaths, and in the intervals he interpreted the nature of the charges to me. Lastly, there were two soldiers of the Civic Guard. Both were armed to the teeth with a rifle and fixed bayonet, and they both wore huge bearskins 'and spurs. They seemed to be a kind of mounted infantry. There was a small dock in the centre of the court facing the dais where the judges sat; but, the nature of the charges not being sufficiently heavy, the accused sat on a form just in front of it. A chair was placed upon the dais itself, exactly in front of the president, for the witnesses, who thus sat with their backs to the persons against whom they gave evidence. There was not a single policeman in the court. In the cases to be tried there had been no arrests, and consequently no one was in charge of the defendants. The latter, upon a plaint being laid before the commissary of police, had been "invited" to attend the court and answer the charge, and they had all accepted the invitation. If they had respectfully declined they would have been promptly sent for, but they probably knew better than to give the court so much trouble. The first couple of criminals who seated themselves on the form were two men—one elderly, in working clothes, and the other a private in the artillery, who appeared in uniform. They were charged with an assault, and the trouble seems to have arisen out of family differences. One after another the witnesses went up to the chair and were duly sworn. No Testament was used. The witness had simply to hold up his or her right hand, with the index finger elevated, and repeat the oath after the usher. What its terms were I could not ascertain, but it was extremely short, and my impression is that the first words were Bei Gott. Then the interrogation began by the president; and the witness, who was a market dame, wrapped in a voluminous cloak and bonnet, and who possessed no small share of the garrulity of her class, was soon off upon a long history which was untimely cut short by his lordship. Neither of the prisoners had a legal representative, and neither cross-examined the witness. Nor were they asked to do so. The woman was simply told to stand down, and the turn of the next came. When their statements, which lasted altogether about five minutes, were over, the president held a short conversation with the accused themselves, and, having heard a brief explanation of the circumstances,
