s, is the Tribunal de Simple Police. Before it appear
the minor offenders against the law, those whose penalties, when
convicted, attain a maximum of fifteen francs, or at the very worst,
five days of prison. Usually, however, they range from about a fine of
three francs if the culprit appear before the court, to five francs if
he be condemned by default. The difference is not sufficiently great,
usually, to compensate him for the expenditure of time and trouble in
appearing, and he permits Justice to take her course without protest.
These offenders are usually hotel-keepers, shopkeepers, cab-drivers,
concierges, small proprietors, etc.; their crimes consist in neglecting
the proper sweeping of their sidewalks, in shaking a carpet out of a
window, in watering a window-plant too copiously, in putting up the
shop-shutters too late, in permitting the family dog to go about without
collar and muzzle,--crimes usually committed in honest ignorance of the
police regulations thus violated. As there exists but one Tribunal de
Police for the twenty arrondissements of Paris, we are not surprised to
learn that this court is the busiest one in France. The number of
offenders who appear before it annually averages from forty-three to
forty-five thousand.

But, as it does not sit on Sundays, Mondays, fete-days, and but three
days a week during the vacation, the total number of hearings amounts to
two hundred and forty annually. This makes nearly two hundred cases for
each sitting, and as the sittings last from an hour and a half to three
hours, the court has about one minute to devote to each case. To enable
it to dispose of them with this rapidity, it classifies the offenders,
and tries all those accused of the same offence at once. The Ministere
Public announces: "Are accused of violation of the ordinance of police
regulating public cabs: Pierre, Paul, Jacques," etc. From time to time,
a voice from the audience answers to one of these names: "Present!" This
roll-call finished, the Juge de Paix, who has marked on his list the
names of the absentees, reads these names again and condemns them all by
default to the maximum penalty. Then there is a second roll-call of
those who are present. The Ministere Public calls on all those who have
anything to say to come forward; two or three of the offenders advance,
stammer out some excuses which are scarcely listened to, and this second
list is condemned in a lump to the regulation minimum pena