The second step was the great enquiries prescribed by the National and Constitutional Assemblies in the immediate aftermath of the Declaration of Human Rights: No man may be arrested or detained other than in cases determined by the law, and according to the forms that it prescribes The law should only admit of punishments that are strictly and obviously necessary, and no man shall be punished other than in virtue of a law that has been established and promulgated prior to the committing of the crime and legally applied.