### 29.1. Creating a `Criteria` instance
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The interface `org.hibernate.Criteria` represents a query against a particular persistent class.
The `Session` is a factory for `Criteria` instances.
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<pre class="prettyprint highlight">`Criteria crit = sess.createCriteria(Cat.class);
crit.setMaxResults(50);
List cats = crit.list();`</pre>
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