Book IV: Some special procedures

When it is brought to the attention of the public prosecutor that a document alleged to be forged is in a public depository or has been drawn up in a public depository, the public prosecutor may go to that depository to carry out any necessary examinations and verifications. The public prosecutor may not delegate the above powers to a judicial police officer. The public prosecutor may, in an emergency, order…

In all investigations for forgery, the investigating judge, as soon as the document alleged to be forged has been produced before him or has been placed in the hands of the court, shall order it to be deposited with the registry. However, before the document is deposited at the court registry, the examining magistrate may order that it be reproduced by photograph or by any other means. .

The examining magistrate may have any comparison documents handed over to him by whomever he sees fit and seize them. These shall bear his signature and that of the clerk, who shall make a descriptive record of them as stated in the preceding article.

Any public custodian of documents alleged to be forged, or having been used to establish forgeries, is required, by order of the examining magistrate, to hand them over to him and to provide, where applicable, any comparison documents in his possession. If the documents thus handed over by a public official or seized from his hands have the character of authentic instruments, he may request that a copy be left…

If, during a hearing of a tribunal or court, a document in the proceedings, or a document produced, is alleged to be forged, the court shall decide, after hearing the observations of the public prosecutor and the parties, whether or not to stay the proceedings until a decision on the forgery has been made by the competent court. If the public prosecution is extinguished or cannot be brought on the…

An application to register a forgery against a document produced before the Court of Cassation shall be addressed to the First President. It is filed at the court registry. It is signed by the applicant or by a lawyer at the Conseil d’Etat and the Cour de cassation or by a special proxy. In the latter case, the power of attorney is attached to the document drawn up by the…