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reestablished their penal equivalent by a political measure in the decree of 8 March 1801 on the state prisons. This was one of the acts brought up against him by the senatus-consulte of 3 April 1814, which pronounced his fall "considering that he has violated the constitutional laws by the decrees
565:
demanded their suppression, and in March 1788 the
Parlement of Paris made some exceedingly energetic remonstrances, which are important for the light they throw upon old French public law. The crown, however, did not decide to lay aside this weapon, and in a declaration to the States-General in the
463:
In reality, the secretary of state had a delegation and could issue them at his own discretion, and in most cases the king was unaware of their issue. In the 18th century the letters were often issued blank, i.e. without containing the name of the person against whom they were directed; the
357:", or "The king is released from the laws." "The French legal scholars interpreted the imperial office of the Justinian code generically and arrived at the conclusion that every 'king is an emperor in his own kingdom,' that is, he possesses the prerogatives of legal
708:
Madame du Berry (Stunningly beautiful young
Mistress of King Louis XV - taken to prison when the King was on his deathbed. Marie Antoinette was overjoyed she would no longer be outshone by the beautiful young Countess whom she called "The Creature" behind du Berry's
203:
In the case of organized bodies, 'lettres de cachet’ were issued for the purpose of preventing assembly or accomplishing some other definite act. The provincial estates were convoked (called to assembly) in this manner, and it was by a
781:, accused to be the author of a satire against the Duke d'Aumont. His account of his short stay in the Bastille contains a description of the food he received, the room he was imprisoned with his servant, and the goodwill shown to him.
852:, features a "lettre de cachet" as a major plot point when the main villain, the guardian of a young lady who has run away, tries to use a "lettre de cachet" to obligate her to be returned to him so he can force her into marriage.
370:
This meant that when the king intervened directly, he could decide without heeding the laws, and even contrary to the laws. This was an early conception, and in early times the order in question was simply verbal; some
425:, on the contrary, were signed simply by a secretary of state for the king; they bore merely the imprint of the king's privy seal, from which circumstance they were often called, in the 14th and 15th centuries,
525:, a minister of the king's household, addressed a circular to the intendants and the lieutenant of police with a view to preventing the most serious abuses connected with the issue of
452:
They were also often used by heads of families as a means of correction, for example, for protecting the family honour from the disorderly or criminal conduct of sons. The case of the
449:
had many other uses. They were employed by the police in dealing with prostitutes, and on their authority lunatics were shut up in hospitals and sometimes in prisons.
460:
obtained by his wealthy and influential mother-in-law) is a prominent example. Wives, too, took advantage of them to curb the profligacy of husbands and vice versa.
445:
as a silent weapon against political adversaries or controversial writers and as a means of punishing culprits of high birth without the scandal of a lawsuit, the
727:(several times, on request of his father, as protection against creditors and once to prevent a death penalty for kidnapping and eloping with a married woman)
555:
Besides the
Bastille, there were thirty prisons in Paris by 1779 in which a person could be detained without trial. Convents were used for the same purpose.
258:
were mainly used against drunkards, troublemakers, prostitutes, squanderers of the family fortune, or insane persons. The wealthy sometimes petitioned such
754:
1088:
742:
514:
414:, which contained the expression of the legal and permanent will of the king, and had to be furnished with the seal of state affixed by the
324:
724:
506:, procured their momentary suppression in a kind of charter of liberties which they imposed upon the crown, but which was short-lived.
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to dispose of inconvenient individuals, especially to prevent unequal marriages (nobles with commoners), or to prevent a scandal (the
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721:(deprived of his academic chair in theology for awarding a PhD to a candidate without having read the (heretical) thesis.)
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was a royal privilege recognized by the French monarchic civil law that developed during the 13th century, as the
558:
They were reported to have been openly sold, in the reign of Louis XV, by the mistress of one of his ministers.
628:
254:, transportation to the colonies, or expulsion to another part of the realm, or from the realm altogether. The
59:
643:
294:
were not as arbitrary and unjust as they have been represented after the
Revolution, and he hence speaks of a
286:. In 1789 and 1790, all cases were reviewed by a commission which confirmed most of the sentences. Historian
70:
834:, one of the ablest and most eloquent of his works, which had an immense circulation and was translated into
196:. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce actions and judgments that could not be
938:
A black legend is set of historical exaggerations construed to darken the memory of a historical period.
394:
In the 14th century, the principle was introduced that the order should be written, and hence arose the
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obtained by his father). The treatise was published after his liberation in 1782 under the title
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to put Darnay himself into prison had the
Marquis not fallen out of favour with the royal court.
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that a reaction against the abuse became clearly perceptible. At the beginning of that reign
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763:(rape and torture. The Lettre was petitioned by the marquis' wife, to avoid a court case)
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769:(domestic disputes and debt. His wife petitioned a Lettre, claiming her husband insane)
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and without an opportunity of defense (after inquiry and due diligence by the
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1020:
Fred Morrow Fling (Oct 1897). "Mirabeau, a Victim of the
Lettres de Cachet".
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royal session of June 23, 1789 (art. 15) it did not renounce it absolutely.
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134:
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343:. The principle can be traced to a maxim which furnished a text of the
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could prevent court cases that might otherwise dishonour a family).
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during his short ministry endeavoured to infuse some measure of
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433:, and were entirely exempt from the control of the chancellor.
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793:(practiced black magic. A scandalous trial was avoided by a
468:, filled in the name in order to make the letter effective.
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has interpreted these confirmations as indicating that the
246:) in a state prison or an ordinary jail, confinement in a
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suspected that his uncle, a marquis, would have used a
741:
was used to avoid a scandal that might have affected
751:(twice, for eloping with two successive young women)
62:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
27:
Orders of the King of France, often arrest warrants
1019:
757:(misconduct: sent away to an abbey by his father)
755:Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière
1065:
1057:, Vol.III, London (1847) Charles Knight, p.1,002
715:(because a nobleman was interested in his wife)
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569:
273:were a prominent symbol of the abuses of the
192:by one of his ministers, and closed with the
1055:The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge
844:, one of the "Horrid Novels" mentioned in "
819:Des Lettres de Cachet et des prisons d'état
631:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
550:Les Lettres de cachet et des prisons d'etat
375:of Henry III of France in 1576 state that
169:
830:into which his father had thrown him by a
502:, the sovereign courts of Paris, by their
985:Les lettres de cachet – une légende noire
905:Fundamental laws of the Kingdom of France
743:Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan
725:Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
695:Learn how and when to remove this message
282:, and as such were suppressed during the
122:Learn how and when to remove this message
319:'s detention at the Bastille, signed by
307:
133:
1013:
552:and was widely read throughout Europe.
521:into the system, and in March 1784 the
14:
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1001:
989:Letters of the Signet – A Black Legend
1089:Economic history of the Ancien Régime
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629:adding citations to reliable sources
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387:by verbal command" of the late king
60:adding citations to reliable sources
31:
1007:The Civilization of the Middle Ages
826:, 1782), written in the dungeon at
540:while imprisoned in the dungeon of
379:was "prisoner in our castle of the
24:
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367:attributes to the Roman emperor."
25:
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581:by the Constituent Assembly, but
339:overcame its initial distrust of
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212:), or by showing in person in a
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536:wrote a scathing indictment of
224:to register a law despite that
47:needs additional citations for
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1022:The American Historical Review
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976:
941:
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509:It was not until the reign of
456:(imprisoned 1777–1790 under a
150:("In the name of the King...")
13:
1:
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480:were made continually by the
184:) were letters signed by the
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179:"letters of the sign/signet"
7:
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570:Abolition and reinstatement
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353:: in their Latin version, "
10:
1110:
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218:, that the king ordered a
577:were abolished after the
402:belonged to the class of
355:Rex solutus est a legibus
325:minister Louis Phélypeaux
252:General Hospital of Paris
1094:Law of the Ancien Régime
925:
910:National Security Letter
856:Doctor Alexandre Manette
842:The Castle of Wolfenbach
803:(request of his father)
801:Jean-Baptiste Forqueray
779:Jean-François Marmontel
586:on the state prisons."
561:In Paris, in 1779, the
431:lettres de petit cachet
427:lettres de petit signet
377:François de Montmorency
317:Jean-François Marmontel
868:, was thrown into the
791:Marie-Anne de La Ville
498:. In 1648, during the
490:and by the provincial
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231:s refusal to pass it.
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900:Divine right of kings
872:prison by means of a
476:Protests against the
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269:In this respect, the
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865:A Tale of Two Cities
731:Marguerite Monvoisin
713:Charles Simon Favart
625:improve this section
364:Corpus Juris Civilis
244:lieutenant de police
165:[lɛtʁdəkaʃɛ]
56:improve this article
952:Chambre des comptes
644:"Lettres de cachet"
331:The power to issue
71:"Lettres de cachet"
991:] (in French).
494:, and also by the
441:While serving the
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210:lettre de jussipri
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142:of 1703 (reign of
1084:Letters (message)
1003:Cantor, Norman F.
895:Bill of attainder
733:(complicity in a
719:Luke Joseph Hooke
705:
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592:lettres de cachet
579:French Revolution
575:Lettres de cachet
538:lettres de cachet
534:Comte de Mirabeau
527:lettres de cachet
523:baron de Breteuil
478:lettres de cachet
447:lettres de cachet
423:lettres de cachet
337:Capetian monarchy
333:lettres de cachet
284:French Revolution
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846:Northanger Abbey
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785:Giacomo Casanova
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735:poisoning affair
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458:lettre de cachet
411:lettres patentes
408:, as opposed to
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186:king of France
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646: –
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610:This section
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45:This article
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49:verification
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850:Jane Austen
590:Victims of
515:Malesherbes
146:), opening
1068:Categories
970:References
685:April 2024
655:newspapers
492:parlements
443:government
416:chancellor
389:Charles IX
359:absolutism
194:royal seal
82:newspapers
948:Parlement
828:Vincennes
787:(dueling)
612:does not
542:Vincennes
511:Louis XVI
483:parlement
466:mandatary
437:As a tool
361:that the
351:Justinian
341:Roman law
315:ordering
226:parlement
221:parlement
144:Louis XIV
112:June 2010
1005:(1993).
962:together
889:See also
870:Bastille
838:in 1788.
773:Voltaire
583:Napoleon
472:Protests
381:Bastille
346:Pandects
321:Louis XV
280:monarchy
198:appealed
1042:1832806
860:Dickens
836:English
824:Hamburg
669:scholar
633:removed
618:sources
519:justice
327:in 1759
304:History
292:lettres
260:lettres
256:lettres
250:or the
248:convent
173:
161:French:
96:scholar
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915:Firman
795:lettre
709:back.)
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500:Fronde
398:. The
264:lettre
98:
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69:
1038:JSTOR
987:[
926:Notes
858:, in
848:" by
676:JSTOR
662:books
488:Paris
385:Paris
240:trial
229:'
103:JSTOR
89:books
737:. A
648:news
616:any
614:cite
544:(by
532:The
421:The
323:and
170:lit.
75:news
1030:doi
627:by
486:of
429:or
383:in
349:of
58:by
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