The Crisis and Recovery of Criminal Justice in Late Sixteenth-Century France
This article considers the role of criminal justice in maintaining state authority and social cohesion during a period of crisis. It presents a case study of the Parlement of Paris during the French Wars of Religion (1562-98), particularly in the final phase of the conflict known as the troubles of...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2024, Volume: 55, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 195-219 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBG France XA Law ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
Authority
B Social Cohesion B Criminal Justice System B Criminal Law B French Wars of Religion, 1562-1598 |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article considers the role of criminal justice in maintaining state authority and social cohesion during a period of crisis. It presents a case study of the Parlement of Paris during the French Wars of Religion (1562-98), particularly in the final phase of the conflict known as the troubles of the League (1584-98). The article analyses a major body of new evidence in sample periods of appeals to the Parlement that contain a total of 2,500 appellants who brought their cases to Paris from across the court's jurisdiction. This evidence demonstrates that, despite the crisis of the civil wars, the magistrates of the Parlement ensured that some provision for criminal justice remained in place. In this light, we might reassess the resilience of criminal justice under the Old Regime and judge it not only by the ideal of absolute monarchy that its advocates misleadingly proclaimed, but rather within the limited resources and systemic constraints that existed at the time. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/731060 |
