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

Description

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 Chatelet 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.

"Richard Mowery Andrews's industry and archival commitment were legendary, even among the members of that formidable group. Only now has he produced--or begun to produce, since this is the first of two volumes on Law, Magistracy, and Crime in Old Regime Paris--the major work that vindicates his earlier reputation." Times Literary Supplement "There is much here for students who want an introduction to criminal law and for anyone who wants insights into the judicial system." Thomas Brennan, Law and History Review "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