The parliament then separated. On the 8th, a bed of justice was held at
Versailles, wherein were enregistered the six ordinances which had been
passed in Council on the 1st of May, and which I now send you. They
were in like manner enregistered in beds of justice, on the same day, in
nearly all the parliaments of the kingdom. By these ordinances, 1. The
criminal law is reformed, by abolishing examination on the _sellette_,
which, like our holding up the hand at the bar, remained a stigma on the
party, though innocent; by substituting an oath, instead of torture, on
the _question prealable_, which is used after condemnation, to make the
prisoner discover his accomplices; (the torture, abolished in 1780, was
on the _question preparatoire_, previous to judgment, in order to make
the prisoner accuse himself;) by allowing counsel to the prisoner for
his defence; obliging the judges to specify in their judgments the
offence for which he is condemned; and respiting execution a month,
except in the case of sedition. This reformation is unquestionably good,
and within the ordinary legislative powers of the crown.
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