Cap. 9 Art. 449Pleas to be raised and determined after the reading out of indictment.

(1) The following pleas, that is to say:

(a) plea to the jurisdiction of the court;

(b) plea of nullity of or defect in the indictment;

(c) plea of extinguishment of action;

(d) plea of "autrefois convict" or "autrefois acquit";

(e) plea of insanity of the accused at the time of the trial;

(f) plea of insanity at the time of the offence or any plea relating to any other point of fact which excludes the imputability of the accused or in consequence of which the trial should not take place at the time, or at any future time; and

(g) saving the provisions of article 446(1), any other preliminary plea, may only be raised if notice thereof has been given as provided in article 438(2): Provided that the court may authorise such pleas to be raised for a reason which arises after the time within which the note referred to in article 438(2) is to be filed in the registry of the court. (2) Deleted by III.2002.107.

(3) Nevertheless, the pleas mentioned in sub-article (1), with the exception of the plea of challenge of the judge or the plea of defect in the indictment, may be raised after the verdict of the jury and before judgment, if the necessity arises from any fact or circumstance of fact expressly found by the jury.

(4) Any point of fact which, without excluding the imputability of the accused or without excluding his capacity to plead, is a bar to his undergoing punishment, may be raised even after the verdict of the jury.

(5) The want of jurisdiction of the court and the nullity of the indictment may also be raised by the court either before ex officio, the accused answers to the charge, or after the verdict of the jury:

Provided, however, that, after the verdict of the jury, the indictment may only be annulled in either of the following cases:

(a) if the indictment does not contain, in substance, a statement or description of the offence as stated or described in the law;

(b) if the fact stated in the indictment does not constitute, in substance, the offence stated or described in such indictment.

(6) Where it is decided that the court has no jurisdiction or that the indictment is null, the accused shall be placed again in the condition in which he stood previously to the filing of the indictment. But where the plea of extinguishment of action or the plea of "autrefois or "autrefois is allowed, the convict" acquit" accused shall be acquitted.