The People's Justice : Revolutionary Law and the Founding of the French Republic / Carla Hesse.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hesse, Carla Alison, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political violence--France--History.

Political violence.

France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 309 pages) : illustrations, charts

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2026]

Summary:

A major new interpretation of the French Revolution that brings to life the criminal tribunals at the heart of the Republic’s political culture In The People’s Justice, Carla Hesse offers a sweeping reappraisal of political violence in the French Revolution. From Charles Dickens to Hannah Arendt, the Revolution of 1789–1799 in France has been depicted as the bloodiest of the eighteenth-century democratic revolutions. Through extensive new archival research, Hesse shows that, to the contrary, what set the French Revolution apart was neither the scale nor the intensity of its violence but rather the ubiquity of its political tribunals and the use of novel forms of criminal law and procedure as a means of adjudicating political conflict. More than 5,000 political trials were prosecuted by the Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris alone, and, with an acquittal rate of more than 50 percent, these were neither perfunctory nor foregone in their outcomes. They had a repressive function, to be sure, but more importantly, they played a critical role in founding a republic in France and in shaping its social and political norms. Through jury deliberation, public witnessing, and media coverage, these political trials legitimated a republic and the revolutionary struggle that brought it into being. They were animated less by class warfare, factional hatreds, or utopian ideology than by a patriotic, albeit tragic, effort to hold fellow citizens accountable. Over the course of the last two centuries, France, of course, has successfully established itself as a constitutional regime, but this constitutional tradition is still rooted in and haunted by its revolutionary past. Since 1793, the French Republic has, to some extent or another, kept itself alive by keeping itself perpetually on trial.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Schematic Summary of the French Revolution

Introduction: Constitution and Revolution

Chapter 1: Tribunals (À la lanterne)

Chapter 2: Urgent Decrees (Décrets d'urgence)

Chapter 3: The Public Prosecutor (Accusateur public)

Chapter 4: Suspicion (Loi des suspects)

Chapter 5: Indictments (Actes d'accusation)

Chapter 6: Seized Letters (Lettres saisies)

chapter 7: Professions of Innocence (Fidèles récits)

Chapter 8: Inner Conviction (Conviction intime)

Chapter 9: Trials (Justice révolutionnaire)

Conclusion: The Law on Trial

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Trials and Convictions

Appendix B: Paris Tribunal Trial Phases

Appendix C: Charges Against Defendants in the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal

Notes

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Hesse, Carla The People's Justice

ISBN:

9780691288536

9780691274850

OCLC:

1593362628