The coercive act in criminal proceedings

Being essentially coercive, the French criminal law and procedure are composed of a succession of acts that the Public Authorities conduct. As they are all different by nature, these acts principally constitute judicial administration measures, acts of the judiciary police, prosecution or investigation measures, as well as jurisdictional acts. Among this great number of acts, some of them can prove to be coercive. And they have one particular point in common: they all encroach on individual liberties. One simply has to consider the controls or verifications of people's identities, police custody, search and seizure, the interceptions of any correspondence over the telecommunications, the use of sound and image detection technology, the judicial suspension, the electronically-monitored house arrest, or custody on remand. These acts, a-priori heterogeneous, constitute in fact a category of their own. Corresponding to the judicial reality, a notion of coercive acts exists in criminal procedures in parallel with traditional concepts. Its main criterion lies in the specificity of its grievance. A two-part classification of the acts, grounded on their coercive or non-coercive features, is then possible. Practical interests appear beyond a tangible theoretical one. For example, it will be possible to identify any new binding action the investigating judge is not allowed to take when new facts are discovered, in view of the prohibition to carry out coercive acts in such a situation. In addition, this notion qualifies for an autonomous regime. It serves not only constitutional and conventional but also legislative requirements that make it possible to exceed the inevitable variations of the acts that compose this category; namely the notions of legality, necessity and proportionality, the effective control by the judicial authority, the respect of the person's dignity and health ASO... If the coercive act is to respect the rights of the defense, it could also be appealed in all cases through the courts. At last, its abuses remain punishable by law as the Penal Code represses abuses of authority. Thus, the persons who decide or carry out a coercive arbitrary act expose themselves to prosecution.