[Special proceedings of a law project concerning "the accusation of dementia": case of Joseph Firmin nicknamed Retif (1794-1799)].

The study of a long neglected bill about the accused in a state of mental alienation debated by the legislative assembly of the french Directoire (1794-1799) following a ruling in the Joseph Firmin case. The parliamentary debate on this bill is of real historical interest, since for the first time after the french Revolution its thirteen sections propose to institute special proceedings in case of mental alienation, midway between the penal code of 1791, which does not contain such provisions and the napoleonic code of 1810, it opens the way for the wellknown section 64 of this later code which sets the rules for over a hundred and eighty years.