Question 11001 — crimes, misdemeanors and contraventions

Summary

Mr. Pierre Morel-À-L'Huissier questions the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, on article 537 of the code of criminal procedure. The latter provides that in matters of contravention, the minutes, reports and witnesses make it possible to prove the contraventions. Paragraph 3 of the article specifies that “evidence to the contrary can only be provided in writing or by witnesses”. However, in practice, case law restrictively limits the application of this text by excluding in particular: written attestations, photographs, and by imposing the plurality of external witnesses in addition to the accused (no passengers in the vehicle for example). As a result, the fined user is faced with providing proof that is often impossible, particularly when he is alone in his vehicle. He asks him if a modification of this article is envisaged, in order to allow equality of arms between the prosecuting party and the accused party, so that the judge remains free to assess the relevance of the evidence submitted to him.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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