The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

THE USURPATION OF TITLES IN

FRANCE.

The following is a translation of the report to the
Emperor Napoleon, on the re-establishment of
penalties against the usurpation of titles and dis-
tinctions :

Sire,—ln re-establishing penal regulations against
those who usurp titles and assume without right
distinctions of honour, the law of May 28, 1858,has
restored to titles legitimately acquired their real
importance and their claims upon the respect of the
public.

In a country and under a rule, where the hum-
blest citizen, by his personal merit, can attain the
highest positions, the law ought openly. to protect
whatever represents the reward of merit and the
honour of families. True and intelligent equality
consists, not in proscribing distif,ctions, but in per-
mitting them to be accessil.,'lo
for all that rise by
courage, dignity of °- conduct, or • brilliancy of
service.
The nis-
.Av law ought to be carried into strict but
•
enli:g:ntened execution.

Your Majesty has desired to put an end to abuses,
to reach fraud and charlatanism, to bring back order
into the civil state, to restore in short to public dis-
tinctions the character and repute that only pertain
to truth. But you had no desire to interfere with
acquired rights or to disturb legitimate possessions
which only ask for the means of causing themselves
to be acknowledged and regulated.

The questions connected with the transmission of
titles in 'fiimilies, the proving of disputed qualifica-
tions, the confirmation or recognition of ancient
titles, the scrutiny, should it be made, into new
titles, are numerous and delicate. It is proper that
no guarantee in the way of inquiry and evidence
should be wanting for their solution. I have the
honour of submitting for your Majesty's approval
the draft of a decree discussed in the Council of
State, and providing for the re-creation of the
Council of the Seal for Titles.

Created by the second statute of -March 1, 1808,
the Council of the Seal for Titles • consisted, under
the presidency of the Arch-Chanceller of the Em-
pire, of three senators, two councillors of state, one
attorney-general, one secretary-general, and trea-
surer. (Decree of March 27, 1848, Art. 7.) An
ordinance of July 15, 1815, replaced it by a commit-
tee presided over by the keeper of the seals, which
was itself suppressed on Oct. 31, 1830.
A part of the attributes of the council and of the
committee of the seal referred to the formation of
entails according to primogeniture, and to the ma-
nagement of property set apart for their formation.
Under the control of the law of March 12, 1835,
which suppressed such fee tails for the future, these
attributes can at the present time be applicable
alone to whatever concerns transitory questions and
the entails still extant.

But the changes that have been undergone by
the laws touching titles and names have created
situations respecting which the deliberations and
advice of a special council will be usefully called into
play. In this point of view it has appeared neces-
sary to amplify the attributes of the old council
of the seal, to bring them into accord with the
existing laws, and to give generally to the keeper
of the seals the right of submitting to the scrutiny
of the new council all difficulties connected with
this subject. Such is the object of the articles 5,6,
and 7 in the draft.

What, for instance, in looking at a law that no
longer authorises the creation of entails, will be the
fate of those titles that were only to become here-
ditary on condition of the estate be:ng entailed ?

What will be in future the rules to be observed
for the verification of titles and. their transmission
to families P

In what order, what limits, on what conditions,
will the father's title secure a title to his sons ?
Will it be proper to sanction the rules laid down
by the decree of June 4, 1809 (art. 5), and by the
ordinance of Aug. 25, 1817 (art. 12) ?

With regard to periods preceding the year 1789,
in defallt of a regular act of scrutiny, acknowledg-
ment or authorisation, the production of which is
not always possible, will there be no means of con-
ferring on the council of the seal the power of
enlarging the circle of proofs and of admitting,
according to circumstances, as a justification of
one's right to the title or name submitted to its
scrutiny, a possession proved by acts of public
officials, or by historical documents ?
An ordinance of Jan. 31, 1819, not inserted in
the Bulletin des Lois, submits in France to the pre-
vious authorisation of your Majesty the using of
titles confessed by foreign sovereigns. Ought not
these regulations to be restored, and again put
seriously into execution ?
Those are questions which stand over, but the
solution of which cannot be long postponed, when
we consider the new text of the article 259 in the
penal code. In devoting itself to its work systema-
tically, and to the complete study of the facts, the
council of the seal will collect the elementary
matter, and will assist in preparing the bases of
your Majesty's decisions.
Petitions sent in for change or addition of name
continue to be subject to the forms traced out by the
law of the 11th Germinal in the year 11. The autho-
risations of this nature are granted by your Majesty
under the form of the regulations for the public
administration (art. 5). The Council of the State
for Titles may nevertheless be consulted on the
changes or additions, that might have the stamp of
a qualification conferring honour or emolument, and
which would come under the category of facts pro-
vided for by the article 259 of the penal code.
By th© terms of the 7th article in the law of the
11th Germinal of the year 11, every one having a
right to do so may, within the space of one year,
dating from the insertion in the Bulletin des Lois,
prosecute the repeal of the decree that Jias autho-
rised a change of name, or an addition to the same.
To maintain intact more efficaciously this right of
third parties, the 9th article in the draft of the
decree requires that the petition for change of
name, or for addition thereto, shall be previously
inserted, in the form of an excerpt, in the Moniteur
and in other journals therein specified. No sanction
of the petition can ensue before three months after
the date of the insertions.
This regulation merely confirms, by giving to it
a more obligatory and solemn form, an administra-
tive rule created by two decisions of the Minister of
Justice on the 26th of Oct., 1815, and the 10th of
April, 1818. (See Moniteur of Oct. 26, 1815, and
Aprillo, 1818.)
But if it be necessary and just to apply without
exception this rule to all parties demanding permis-
sion to take in future a name they never bore, and
by which they are not known, this necessity may
appear less absolute when the decree of authorisa-
tion now solicited, and which itself will not be
definitive until after the lapse of one year, ought
not to interfere save for the purpose of legalising a
name honourably borne for a long period, aocepted
by the public, inscribed in official acts or made illus-
trious by important services. The insertion of the
petition for the sole purpose of informing third
parties, has then longer the same interest, and
might in certain eases be attended with moreincon-
venience than advantage. These considerations,
joined to the ,eculiar treatment always
enjoined by transitory situations, have dic-
tated the construction of article 10, by virtue of
which the keeper of the seal, by and with the ad-
vice of the council of seals, may dispense with the
insertions prescribed by the 10th article, where the
petitions arc based on old possession, or when it is
notorious and consecrated by important services.
Nevertheless, the Council of State has thought
that, however circumscribed this faculty might be,
it ought to be, like the requirements it is intended
to satisfy, of an essentially transitory nature. The
council has limited its duration to a period of two
` years, dating from the promulgation of the decree.
Three senators and two councillors of state will
enter, as in 1808, into the composition of the Coun-
cil. Your Majesty has moreover permitsod that
two members of the Court of Appeal should be called
to form part of it. Your exalted magistracy, Sire,
Will worthily respond to this new appeal made to
its devotedness and intelligence. It has likewise
I appeared right to introduce-into the Council of the
Seal three masters of requests, who according to
the law of their institution will have a deliberative
voice in the affairs, of which they will have to make
the report, and a consultative voice in the others.
Lastly, auditors to the Council of State may be
attt::gl"wthetobutikdegeCt94l:ol:l6Bl294Bf4,
The law of Yan
office of the seal. The oistulsBtP3hrlisdsuseeafilorelebyeeerip!ll:g-
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the Beal,
la
into that office are now levied direct by the public
treasury. S 0 long as this legislative regulation
shall not have been modified, it will not be possible
to
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referendaries to the Seal.

Should your Majesty deign to approve the draft
of the decree, the text of which is below, I shall
have the honour to take your orders for the appoint-