Chapter V: Opening of sessions

The accused or his lawyer first, and then the public prosecutor, shall challenge such jurors as they see fit, as their names come out of the ballot box, except for the limitation expressed in article 298. The accused, his lawyer or the public prosecutor may not state their grounds for challenge. The trial jury is formed at the moment when the names of six or nine jurors who have not…

When the Assize Court rules at first instance, the accused may not challenge more than four jurors and the public prosecutor may not challenge more than three. On appeal, the accused may not challenge more than five jurors and the public prosecutor may not challenge more than four.

If there are several defendants, they may agree to exercise their challenges; they may exercise them separately. In either case, they may not exceed the number of challenges determined for a single accused.

If the defendants do not agree to challenge, the lot settles among themselves the rank in which they make the challenges. In this case, jurors challenged by one, and in that order, are challenged by all until the number of challenges is exhausted.

The defendants may agree to exercise part of the challenges, except to exercise the remainder according to the rank fixed by lot.

The court clerk shall draw up minutes of the proceedings for the formation of the judging panel.

The jurors are seated in the order designated by lot, alongside the court, if the layout of the premises permits, and otherwise on seats separated from the public, the parties and the witnesses, opposite the one intended for the accused.

The President addressed the jurors, standing uncovered, as follows: “You swear and promise to examine with the most scrupulous attention the charges that will be brought against X….to betray neither the interests of the accused, nor those of the company accusing him, nor those of the victim; not to communicate with anyone until after your statement; not to listen to hatred or malice, nor to fear or affection; to remember…

When the assize court ruling on appeal is to rule solely on the sentence, the speech to the jurors provided for in Article 304 is amended as follows: 1° The words: “the charges to be brought against X …” are replaced by the words: “the evidence against X which led to his conviction”; 2° The words: “to remind you that the accused is presumed innocent and that doubt must benefit…

The chairman declares the jury finally constituted.