Chapter III: Seizures of property

During the investigation in flagrante delicto or the preliminary investigation, the liberty and custody judge, at the request of the public prosecutor, may order, by reasoned decision, the seizure, at the advanced expense of the Treasury, of the real estate whose confiscation is provided for by the article 131-21 of the Penal Code. The investigating judge may, in the course of the investigation, order this seizure under the same conditions….

The seizure of a property under criminal law is enforceable against third parties from the date of publication of the decision ordering the seizure in the mortgage office or, for the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, in the land register for the location of the property. The formalities for this publication are carried out, on behalf of the public prosecutor or the investigating judge, by the Agency for the…

A sale of the property concluded before publication of the decision to seize the property under criminal law and published after this publication at the mortgage registry or in the land register for the departments concerned cannot be set up against the State, unless the seizure is subsequently released. However, if it is not necessary to maintain the seizure of the property and the sale does not appear to be…