Page:The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.pdf/121

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Constitution of 1791
91

in consequence of the orders which shall be given them by the king:

Attacks upon the personal liberty of the citizens, against the free circulation of provisions and other articles of commerce, and against the collection of the taxes;

Offences by which the execution of the orders given by the king in the exercise of the functions which are delegated to him may be disturbed or interfered with;

Attacks upon international law;

And revolts against the execution of the judgments and of all the executory acts emanating from the constituted authorities.

27. The minister of justice shall denounce to the tribunal of cassation, by means of the commissioner of the king, and without prejudice to the rights of the interested parties, the acts in which the judges may have exceeded the limits of their power.

The tribunal shall annul them; and, if they give occasion for forfeiture, the fact shall be denounced to the legislative body, which shall render the decree of accusation, if there is need, and shall send the accused before the high national court.

Title IV. Of the Public Force

1. The public force is instituted in order to defend the state against enemies from abroad, and to assure within the maintenance of order and the execution of the laws.

2. It is composed of the army and the navy, of the troops especially intended for internal service, and subsidiary of the active citizens and their children, in condition to bear arms, registered upon the roll of the national guard.

3. The national guards form neither a military body nor an institution within the state; they are the citizens themselves summoned to service in the public force.

4. The citizens shall never take the form nor act as national guards, except in virtue of a requisition or of a legal authorisation.

5. They are subject in this capacity to an organization determined by the law.

They can have but one common discipline and one common uniform in the whole kingdom.