"The lie of the law by the court" - A postcard accusing the Appeals Court of bias in favor of Alfred Dreyfus in his ...

"The lie of the law by the court" - A postcard accusing the Appeals Court of bias in favor of Alfred Dreyfus in his final acquittal

Antisemitic postcard referring to section 445 under which Dreyfus was acquitted and claiming that the judges deleted a few words from the original text of the section and added other words in order to acquit Dreyfus. Published by the antisemitic daily newspaper Laction Francaise. Extremely rare find and not known to have been published at the end of the affair c. 1906, as part of the propaganda of Dreyfus' opponents who continued to claim that he was guilty even after his official acquittal.

On the front of the postcard is written the number 445 in large black letters, referring to the section of the French Penal Code under which Dreyfus was acquitted. On the back is written the text of the section in the law with the seven original words included in the law on the left in italics, which according to the publisher of the postcard, the court deleted, and on the right the words that the court added to the text. According to the writer, the words "leaves nothing that can be classified" are words that the court added in order to raise the level of the charge to beyond any doubt, and since this does not suit Dreyfus' case, since there was at least doubt, the court acquitted him.

Article 445 of French law actually enabled the Court of Appeals to deal with a case that had already been decided in a previous court,   as long as doubt arose as to the first decision. In Dreyfus' final verdict it was written: "The decision of the Court of Appeals states that: "Since in the final analysis of the charges against Dreyfus, nothing remains standing, and with the annulment of the military court's judgment, there is nothing that can be considered a crime or offense. Therefore, by applying the final paragraph of article 445, there is no basis for referral to another court". The section was intended to correct a miscarriage of justice and grant compensation to people who were wrongfully convicted, and in Dreyfus' case under this section he was acquitted in the retrial in Rennes. The antisemitic postcard tries to claim that the judges themselves added a sentence to the original law that would allow them to acquit Dreyfus.

9x14 cm. Very good condition.