e of the Chambres des Comptes of the old monarchy
and of the Commission de Comptabilite Nationale which replaced these
Chambres at the period of the Revolution. It was created by a law of
September 16, 1807, and constitutes at once an administrative tribunal
charged with the verification and examination of certain financial
accounts of the administration and an institution of the body-politic
intended, by its control over the financial measures of the
administration and other administrative accounts which it is not called
upon to examine, to advise the executive and legislative powers. It may
therefore be considered as the superintendent of the public fortune and
of its financial measures.

It consists of a first President, three Presidents of Chambres, eighteen
Conseillers Maitres, twenty-four Conseillers Referendaires of the first
class, sixty of the second class, a Procureur general, fifteen Auditeurs
of the first class, ten of the second class, a Greffier en chef, etc.
The salaries of these officials are about the same as those of the Cour
de Cassation. The first President has the supreme direction of all the
deliberations of the court, as well as of the police and general
surveillance. The court is divided into three Chambres, having each a
President and six Conseillers Maitres who alone have a voice in the
deliberations and constitute, themselves, the members of the
administrative tribunal sitting in judgment. The deliberations are not
public. The Presidents and Conseillers cannot be removed, and are placed
on the retired list, the Presidents and Maitres at seventy-five years of
age, and the Referendaires at seventy years. The court addresses an
annual report to the chief of the State, in which it sets forth those
matters which, in the course of its examinations, have seemed to it
worthy of the attention of the government, and advocates those reforms
and ameliorations in the administration of the public finances which
have been suggested to it by its consideration of the various facts and
enactments.

The Cour d'Appel, at the Palais de Justice, includes in its jurisdiction
the departments of the Aube, Eure-et-Loir, Marne, Seine-et-Marne,
Seine-et-Oise, Yonne-et-Seine. In all cases, the decrees are rendered by
the magistrates deliberating, in groups of some odd number,--at least
five, including the President. In all civil and commercial cases, appeal
can be made from all decisions rendered by the tribunals of the