BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE III
INVESTIGATING JURISDICTIONS

CHAPTER I
THE INVESTIGATING JUDGE: THE FIRST-TIER INVESTIGATING JURISDICTION

SECTION VI
ISSUANCE AND EXECUTION OF WARRANTS

Article 122
The investigating judge may issue a warrant to search for a person, a subpoena, a summons or an arrest warrant, according to the case. The liberty and custody judge may issue a committal order.
A warrant to search may be issued in respect of a person in respect of whom there exists a plausible reason or reasons to suspect that he has committed or attempted to commit an offence. It may not be issued against any person who is the object of a reference from the public prosecutor, an assisted witness or a person under judicial examination. It constitutes an order issued to the enforcement agencies to find the person against whom it has been issued and to place him in police custody.
A subpoena, summons or arrest warrant may be issued in respect of a person in respect of whom there exists serious or corroborated evidence making it likely that he may have participated, either as principle or accomplice, in the commission of an offence. It may be issued even where the person is an assisted witness or is under judicial examination.
A subpoena is designed to give to the person against whom it is made a notice to appear before the judge at the date and time specified by this warrant.
A summons is the order given by the judge to the law-enforcement forces to bring the person against whom it is made immediately before him.
An arrest warrant is the order given to the law-enforcement authorities to find the person against whom it is made and to bring him before him, having first taken him, if appropriate, to the remand prison mentioned on the warrant, where he will be received and detained.
The investigating judge is required to hear as assisted witnesses any persons against whom there has been issued a subpoena, a summons or an arrest warrant, unless they are placed under judicial examination according to the provisions of article 116.
A committal warrant may be issued against a person who is under judicial examination and who has been the subject of an order placing him in pre-trial detention. It is an order to the prison governor to receive and detain the person against whom it has been made. This warrant also authorises the collection or the transfer of the person concerned, so long as he has been previously notified.

BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE III
INVESTIGATING JURISDICTIONS

CHAPTER I
THE INVESTIGATING JUDGE: THE FIRST-TIER INVESTIGATING JURISDICTION

SECTION VI
ISSUANCE AND EXECUTION OF WARRANTS

Article 124
Warrants are enforceable over the entire territory of the Republic.

BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE III
INVESTIGATING JURISDICTIONS

CHAPTER I
THE INVESTIGATING JUDGE: THE FIRST-TIER INVESTIGATING JURISDICTION

SECTION VI
ISSUANCE AND EXECUTION OF WARRANTS

Article 127
If the person searched for in accordance with a summons is found more than two hundred kilometres from the seat of office of the investigating judge who issued the warrant, and it is not possible to bring him before this judge within twenty-four hours, he is brought before the district prosecutor of the place of arrest.

Article 128
This judge questions him as to his identity, records his statement after cautioning him that he free not to make one, asks him if he consents to be transferred or prefers to extend the effect of the summons by waiting in the place he then is for the decision of the investigating judge in charge of the case. If the person declares he opposes the transfer, he is brought to the remand prison and an immediate notification is sent to the competent investigating judge. The original or the copy of the official record of the appearance including a full description is immediately sent to this judge, with any information likely to facilitate in ascertaining his identity.
This official record must mention that the person was informed that he was free not to make a statement.

Article 129
The investigating judge in charge of the case decides immediately upon receiving these documents whether there is a need to order the transfer of the person.

BOOK I
EXERCISE OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION AND JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION

TITLE III
INVESTIGATING JURISDICTIONS

CHAPTER I
THE INVESTIGATING JUDGE: THE FIRST-TIER INVESTIGATING JURISDICTION

SECTION VI
ISSUANCE AND EXECUTION OF WARRANTS

Article 130-1
Where the time limits imposed by articles 127 and 130 are not complied with, the person is released upon the order of the investigating judge in charge of the case, unless his transfer was delayed by insuperable circumstances.

Article 131
(Act no. 93-2 of 4 January 1993 art. 173; Official Journal of 5 January 1993; in force 1 March 1993)
If the person has absconded or if he resides outside the territory of the Republic, the investigating judge may, after hearing the opinion of the district prosecutor, issue an arrest warrant against him if the offence carries a misdemeanour imprisonment penalty or a more serious penalty.

Article 133
Within twenty-four hours of his arrest, a person arrested in accordance with an arrest warrant is brought before the investigating judge or the president or the judge appointed by the latter in order to carry out the interrogation and to rule where necessary on his being remanded in pre-trial detention under the conditions provided for by article 145. Failure to comply with this results in the person's release. The provisions of article 126 are applicable.
If the person is arrested more than two hundred kilometres from the seat of office of the investigating judge who issued the warrant, within twenty-four hours of his arrest he is brought before the district prosecutor of the place of arrest, who records his statement after cautioning him that he is free not to make a statement. This notice is recorded in the official record.
The district prosecutor immediately informs the judge who issued the warrant and requests the transfer. If the transfer cannot be made immediately, the district prosecutor reports this to the issuing judge.
Where a transfer must be made, the person is brought to the remand prison mentioned in the warrant within the time limits set out in article 130. The provisions of article 130-1 are applicable.

Article 133-1
In the cases provided for by articles 125, 127 and 133, where the person is being held by the police or gendarmerie prior to his appearance before a judge, the district prosecutor of the place of arrest is informed at the start of this retention, and the person has the right to have a relative informed under the conditions provided for by article 63-2, and to be examined by a doctor pursuant to the conditions of article 63-3.

Article 134
The officer in charge of enforcing the summons, arrest warrant or warrant to search for a person may not enter a citizen's home before 6 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
He may be accompanied by sufficient force to ensure that the person does not evade the law. This force is taken from the place closest to where the warrant must be enforced and it is obliged to obey the requisitions included in this warrant.
If the person cannot be arrested, an official report of the fruitless search is sent to the judge who issued the warrant.
The person concerned is then considered to be placed under judicial examination for the purposes of article 176.

Article 135
As regards felonies or misdemeanours, committal warrants may not be issued except to enforce the ruling provided for in article 145.
The officer in charge of enforcing the committal warrant hands over the person concerned to the prison governor, who gives him a receipt acknowledging this hand-over.

Article 135-1
A person found as a result of a search warrant is placed in police detention by a judicial police officer attached to the place where he was found, in accordance with the provisions of article 154. The investigating judge seised of the case is informed of this at the start of the custody period. Without prejudice to the power of any judicial police officer already authorised to carry out the hearing of the person by a rogatory letter, the judicial police officer attached to the place where he was found may be instructed to do this by the investigating judge, and also to carry out any other investigative acts necessary for this purpose. During the custody period, the person may also be driven to premises belonging to the inquiry services seised of the case.

ARTICLE 135-2
If the person who is the subject of an arrest warrant is found after the investigation is complete, the procedure set out in this article is followed.
The district prosecutor of the place where he was arrested is notified by the police or the gendarmerie at the start of the retention of the person concerned. During this retention, the provisions of articles 63-2 and 63-3 apply. The retention may not last for longer than twenty-four hours.
As soon as possible and in any case no later than twenty-four hours after his arrest the person is brought before the district prosecutor of the first instance court in which the case is to be tried. Having checked his identity and notified him of the warrant, the prosecutor brings him before the liberty and custody judge.
On the request of the district prosecutor the liberty and custody judge may either place him under judicial supervision, or order him to be held in pre-trial custody until his appearance before the court of trial. This decision is made by a reasoned decision under the provisions of article 144, following an adversarial hearing organised according to the provisions of the fourth to eighth paragraphs of article 145. If the person is placed in detention, the time-limits set out in the fourth and fifth paragraphs of article 179 and by the eighth and ninth paragraphs of article 181 are then applicable, and run with effect from the ruling placing him in detention. Within ten days of its notification, the decision of the liberty and custody judge may be appealed. Appeal lies to the correctional court of appeals where the person has been sent for trial in the correctional court, and to the investigating chamber if he has been sent to the assize court.
If the person is arrested more than two hundred kilometres from the seat of the trial court and it is not possible to bring him within twenty-four hours before the district prosecutor mentioned in paragraph three above, he is brought before the district prosecutor of the place of arrest, who verifies his identify and, after cautioning him that he is free not to say anything, records any statement he may make. This prosecutor then puts the arrest warrant into effect by causing the person to be taken to the remand prison and he informs the district prosecutor of the first instance court of the area where the trial court sits. The latter orders the transfer of the person, who must appear before him within four days of the notification of the warrant; this time-limit is extended to six days in the case of a transfer between an overseas department and metropolitan France, or another departement overseas. The procedure set out in the third and fourth paragraphs aboveis then followed.
Production before the liberty and custody judge set out by the above dispositions is not required if, within the required time limits for this production, the person can appear before the trial court in which the case is to be tried.
The provisions of the present article are also applicable to arrest warrants issued after the closing order. However, they are not applicable if, after the arrest warrant was issued during the investigation or after its closing, the person was sentenced to a custodial sentence, either by an adversarial judgement or a judgment deemed to be adversarial in the case of a misdemeanour or by a decision by default in the case of a felony; nor are they applicable when the warrant was issued following conviction in such a case. In these cases, the person arrested is put in pre-trial detention, without the necessity to produce him before the liberty and custody judge, until the expiry of the time limit for appeal or, in case of an appeal, until his appearance before the court, without prejudice to his right to apply for bail.

Article 135-3
Any arrest warrant or warrant to search for a person is, at the request of the investigating judge or district prosecutor, entered on the official record of the person sought. When the person is brought before the trial court by a ruling in respect of which the time-limit for appeal has passed, and the ruling is an arrest warrant, the person in charge of the record is informed that the provisions of article 135-2 may be applied if appropriate.

Article 136
The non-observance of the formalities laid down for subpoenas, summonses, committal orders, arrest warrants and warrants to search for persons can lead to disciplinary sanctions against the investigating judge, the liberty and custody judge or the district prosecutor.
These provisions are extended, unless more severe penalties are enforced, to any violation of the measures protecting personal freedom laid down in articles 56, 57, 59, 96, 97, 138 and 139.
In the cases outlined in the previous two paragraphs and in any case of violation of personal freedom, the issue may never be raised by administrative authorities, and judicial courts always have exclusive competence.
The same rules apply to any civil proceedings initiated on the grounds of actions amounting to an attack against personal freedom or against the inviolability of a person's home set out by articles 432-4 to 432-6 and 432-8 of the Criminal Code, whether directed against a public body or its agents.

BOOK II
TRIAL COURTS

TITLE I
THE ASSIZE COURT

CHAPTER VI
THE HEARING

SECTION I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 310
...
He may summon in the course of the hearing, where necessary through an arrest warrant, and hear any person or have brought before him any new element which, in the light of developments at the hearing, he deems useful for the discovery of the truth.

BOOK IV
SOME SPECIFIC PROCEEDINGS

TITLE I
CO-OPERATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

CHAPTER I
JUDICIAL CO-OPERATION

SECTION II
ARRESTS AND TRANSFERS

Article 627-4
Arrest applications for the purpose of transfer are delivered to the competent authorities, either in original form or as certified copies accompanied by the appropriate proofs, in accordance with article 87 of the Statute. After ensuring that they are in proper form, these authorities then send them to the prosecutor general of the Appeal Court of Paris, whilst implementing them at the same time over the whole French territory.
In cases of urgency, these requests may also be sent directly, by any available means, to the district prosecutor who is territorially competent. They are then sent on in the forms provided for by the previous paragraph.

ARTICLE I
TITLE I CO-OPERATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
CHAPTER I JUDICIAL CO-OPERATION
SECTION 2: ARRESTS AND TRANSFERS

Article 627-4

(Inserted by Law no. 2002-268 of 26 February 2002 art. 1 Official Journal of 27 February 2002)

Arrest applications for the purpose of transfer are delivered to the competent authorities, either in original form or as certified copies accompanied by the appropriate proofs, in accordance with article 87 of the Statute. After ensuring that they are in proper form, these authorities then send them to the prosecutor general of the Appeal Court of Paris, whilst implementing them at the same time over the whole French territory.
In cases of urgency, these requests may also be sent directly, by any available means, to the district prosecutor who is territorially competent. They are then sent on in the forms provided for by the previous paragraph.