CHAPTER XXV. Of the mode of making the charge in cases of repetition of the offence. con Art. 986. That the party accused has been before convicted of an offence of the same nature may be stated in the indictment according to the following form: after the charge of the offence add, "and the jurors do further present, that the said J. S. was heretofore in the court of [state the court] in or about the year victed of [state the offence, and if he was more than once convicted, state the same in like manner, and conclude,] wherefore the said jurors present, that the said J. S. hath [a second or third time] committed an offence affecting [private property, according to the nature of the offence."] Art. 987. If the prior convictions are discovered after the time of finding the indictment, but before the trial, the public prosecutor may give notice to the defendant, at any time before the trial, that he will give evidence of such conviction, specifying the offence and the time as is above set forth, and shall then be allowed to give such evidence. Art. 988. If the prior conviction be discovered after conviction, whether sentence be passed or not, the record of the conviction shall be received by the court, and the defendant shall be brought up and required to show cause why the additional punishment should not be inflicted, which he may do by denying that he is the person formerly convicted. If the identity is denied, it shall be tried by a jury, and the burthen of proof shall be on the public prosecutor. INTRODUCTORY TITLE. Art. 1. The Code of Evidence, which is applicable as well to civil as to criminal cases, will direct judges, other magistrates, ministers of justice and jurors, what proof is sufficient to commit, to indict, and to convict an offender, against the Code of Crimes and Punishments. Art. 2. Where, in this Code, examples are given to illustrate certain rules of evidence, they are never intended as an enumeration of all the cases coming within such rules. When a limitation to certain enumerated cases is intended, it is unequivocally so expressed. Art. 3. The substantive word judge in this Code means the power which has the right of deciding on the subject matter to which the article in which it is used applies; it may, according to the subject, mean either the magistrate, the jury, or the arbitrator or referee. Art. 4. All the rules of evidence which are laid down to regulate the introduction and declare the effect of proof adduced on the principal matter in dispute in judicial investigation, apply also to the introduction and effect of the same kind of proof on any incidental question, except when it is otherwise expressly provided. Art. 5. Particular provisions in this Code control general rules, but in the particular case only in which they are introduced. Art. 6. By the expression "immoveable estate," or "immoveables," is meant all that is made such by destination or provision of law, as well as by nature. Art. 7. When the word "evidence" is used in this Code, it always means "legal evidence," as herein defined. Art. 8. In all cases whatever where any thing is declared to be legal evidence, it must be understood to be with the proviso that it is applicable to the issue or fact in litigation. Whether so applicable or not (when there is no express provision) it is left to the discretion of the court to determine. But in the exercise of this discretion great liberality must be used, and no legal evidence excluded that has even a remote application to the question. Art. 9. If in any criminal case the provisions of this Code, for the admission or exclusion of evidence, shall in the opinion of the court be found to have operated unjustly; and in consequence thereof any one is convicted, judgment shall not be pronounced until after the report has been made to the legislature, in the manner hereinafter provided. But if such provision shall operate, in the opinion of the court, in favour of the accused, who shall, in consequence of evidence admitted or excluded conformably to such provision, be acquitted, judgment of acquittal shall be rendered: and in either of these cases (as well as in civil cases, where a verdict has, in the opinion of the court, been |