Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris, 1735–1789: Volume 1, The System of Criminal Justice

The first of two volumes centred around the two great courts of eighteenth-century Paris.

Richard Mowery Andrews (Author)

9780521526364, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 November 2006

632 pages, 32 b/w illus. 25 tables
23.3 x 15.3 x 1 cm, 0.224 kg

"Students of French Old Regime law, crime, and society will welcome the appearance of Andrews' study of Parisian crime and its judgment by the Chatelet and Parlement of Paris--tribunals whose vast jurisdictions in the capital and its region made them the monarchy's most important judicatures....[Andrews'] study transcends the legal, political, or prosopographical foci of existing studies of these courts to examine their actual administration of criminal justice, and his conclusions challenge historians to reexamine long-held assumptions about Old Regime society and criminal law....this first volume of Andrews' study gives historians much to anticipate in his second volume, which will examine the crimes and criminals that appeared before the Paris courts." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris, 1735–1789 is the first of two volumes centred around the two great courts of Paris, the Châtelet and Parlement, and their criminal defendants in the eighteenth century. Richard Andrews seeks to refute the 'black legend' of revolutionary propaganda and its modern historical successors, which hold that the Old Regime courts were cruel and arbitrary. These courts are shown rather to be thoroughly rule-bound and consisting of strict judicial procedure derived from royal statutes. Rule of and by the law is shown to be the most substantial legacy of the Old Regime. This volume places the courts of Old Regime Paris in the context of French society and the state. The practices and doctrines of punishment are examined, along with the jurisprudence of moral and criminal behaviour.

List of illustrations, charts, and tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Principal sources and abbreviations
General introduction: A. The metropolis and its region
B. The judiciary within the city
C. The judiciary within the state
Part I. Themistocracy: Introduction: meanings
1. The Châtelet of Paris
2. The Parlement of Paris
3. Themistocrats
4. A Fourth Estate: the uniqueness of the themistocracy
5. Themistocratic family and kinship: the Maussions and their allies
6. Professional culture
Conclusion: rule of law
Appendix: letter of appointment for Augustin Testard du Lys
Part II. Punishment: Introduction: imagery
7. Liability and immunity
8. Purposes
9. Forms
10. Royal mercy
Conclusion: tradition and modernity
Appendix: arrest de la cour du Parlement
Part III. Trial and Judgement: The Procedure of the 1670 Criminal Ordinance: Introduction: origins and legend
11. Initiating judicial action
12. Preparatory instruction
13. Definitive instruction
14. Interlocutory judgement
15. Definitive judgement
Conclusion: principles
Appendix: penal decision, a mathematical model
Part IV. Trials and Judgments: Illustrative Cases: Introduction: the case record
16. Assault
17. Theft
18. Murder
Conclusion: judgement: knowledge or power?
Conclusion to volume I
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]