The 1912 decree imposed French criminal-justice principles onto native courts.

Evidence

Yet a third aspect of Panty’s effort to reform custom was the introduction of French justice in the prosecution and the punishment of criminals. “Our civilizing mission requires the application of the essential principles of criminal law,” Ponty explained in his instructions. Thus, to prove guilt, the native courts were required by the 1912 decree to first establish that a law, ordinance or custom had been violated, then that the accused had committed the crime in question, and last that he had intended the result of his action. To punish the guilty party, the courts had to respect the following principles, also imported from France: equality of all before the law; punishment exclusive to the criminal; imposition of only the most severe sentence in cases of multiple criminality; and specificity of punishment. 5° Finally, in choosing which punishment to inflict, the courts were “to substitute appropriate penalties for those marred by needless cruelty.” Custom was to be a guide as to how severe the sentence would be, but the only acceptable sentences to the French were fines, imprisonment for up to twenty years, life imprisonment, exile, or death. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 433

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in republicanism being imposed on West Africa - this is a concrete mechanism of that imposition via legal reform.