Poursuite

Poursuite is a French noun meaning the act of pursuing or chasing. It can refer to following a person, an animal, or a path, as well as the pursuit of goals, objectives, or values. The related verb is poursuivre, meaning to pursue or to chase. The term is used across everyday language and formal discourse, and its English equivalents include pursuit, and in legal contexts, proceedings or prosecutions depending on the sense.

In legal usage, poursuite denotes the act of pursuing a case or charges. Poursuites pénales refers to criminal proceedings or prosecutions, while poursuites civiles refers to civil actions brought before a court. The word appears in many jurisdictional contexts to describe actions taken to obtain remedy or enforce rights. In criminal procedure, developments of the poursuite determine how charges are investigated and adjudicated within the justice system.

In policing and public safety contexts, a poursuite describes a high‑speed chase after a suspect, with policies that balance pursuing safety concerns and the risk to bystanders. Beyond law and policing, the phrase appears in everyday language and culture to express striving or striving toward an objective, as in expressions like la poursuite du bonheur or la poursuite d’un objectif. The concept also appears in literature and cinema, where La Poursuite is used as a title or motif to evoke pursuit and pursuit-related drama.