Chapter XXVI: Appendix: I

THE FRENCH CONSTITUTION IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.

Cf. Gasquet, _Institutions Politiques et Sociales de la France_. Chéruel, _Dictionnaire Historique des Institutions de la France_.

I. Central Administration.--_Conseil du Roi_ (King’s Council), or _Conseil d’État_ (Council of State). The supreme Executive Council of the realm. It also exercised _Legislative_ powers through its Ordinances, and high _Judicial_ power until organisation of the Grand Conseil.

=1.= Sometimes heard ultimate appeals from the Sovereign Law
Courts.

=2.= Evoked cases from other Courts in which public interests were
involved.

=3.= Heard complaints against the royal officials. These Judicial
Powers were subsequently transferred to--

=α.= The Grand Conseil.--Finally organised in 1497, to decide
questions of disputed jurisdiction between the other sovereign
Courts, but never very important. Composed of the Constable (the
Chief Military Officer), the Chancellor (the Supreme Civil Officer),
the Princes of the Blood, Officers of State.

=β.= The Conseil Privé or des parties. A Judicial Committee of the
Council erected in the seventeenth century.

A number of clerks (Maîtres de Requêtes) under the Conseil du Roi, worked various Departmental Councils, such as those of War and Finance.

II. Central Courts of Justice.

_A._ The Parlement of Paris.--The Central Judicial Court of the Realm, sharing with the Grand Conseil the right of hearing appeals from all subordinate Courts.

It also (1) issued Arrêts, or Injunctions.

(2) Registered all royal ordinances, treaties of peace, and other
public documents; and, from the reign of Louis XI., claimed the right
of refusing to register--a right which gradually ripened into a right
of veto. The King, however, could always override its veto by holding
a ‘Lit de Justice’--_i.e._ by summoning the Parlement, in solemn
assembly, before the Peers of France and the officers of State, and
ordering it to register.

Its members held office for life, and were, since the reign of Louis XI., irremovable, unless convicted of some penal offence. As membership was generally purchased from the King, they became saleable, and, after the reign of Henry IV., practically hereditary.

The Parlement was divided into five Courts:--

1. _The Grand Chambre._--This heard all appeals of great importance,
and cases of first instance which concerned the Peers; cases of
treason; and criminal charges against royal officials and members of
the Parlement.

2. _Chambre des Requêtes._--Decided smaller cases of first instance.

3. _Chambre des Enquêtes._--Heard smaller cases of appeal, and
prepared the more important appeals for the Grand Chambre.

4. _Chambre de la Tournelle._--Tried less important criminal cases.

5. _Chambre de l’Édit._--Established after the Edict of Nantes,
1598, to try cases between Catholics and Huguenots. One or two of
the judges were to be Protestants.

_B._ Chambre des Comptes.--Exercised jurisdiction in all financial matters dealing with the royal domain, and audited accounts of the Baillis and Sénéschals; registered edicts concerning the royal domain, and recorded the fealty and homage of tenants-in-chief. Jurisdiction civil--not criminal.

_C._ Cour des Aides.--Exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction over cases dealing with Taxation, and audited accounts of the Élus who collected the direct taxes.

III. Local Justice and Administration.

1. _Provincial Parlements_, exercising the same authority as the Parlement of Paris within their districts, existed in the fifteenth century at--

Toulouse for Province of Languedoc, instituted 1443.
Grenoble „ Dauphiné, „ 1453.
Bordeaux „ Guienne, „ 1462.
Dijon „ Burgundy, „ 1477.

And the following were added during the sixteenth century at--

Aix for Provence, 1501.
Rouen for Normandy, 1515.
Rennes for Brittany, 1553.

Five more were subsequently added--

Pau for Béarn, 1620.
Metz „ 3 Bishoprics, 1633.
Douai „ Flanders, 1686.
Besançon „ Franche-Comté, 1676.
Nancy „ Lorraine, 1769.

Most of these Provinces had their separate Chambre des Comptes, and Cour des Aides.

2. _The Baillis or Sénéschals_ (with Prévôts under them).

(_a_) Collected the dues from the royal domains (while the Élus
collected the regular direct taxes).

(_b_) Tried petty cases.

(_c_) Administered affairs, civil and military, of their Bailliage or
Sénéchaussée.

Their jurisdiction was subordinated to that of the Parlements, and their financial accounts were under the Cours des Comptes, while that of the Élus were audited by the Cours des Aides.

Francis I., however, appointed new officers--_the Lieutenants, Civil and Criminel_--to whom, by the ordinance of 1560, the judicial functions of the Baillis and Sénéschals were transferred. After that date the importance of the Baillis and Sénéschals rapidly declined, especially after the final institution of the Intendants by Richelieu.

Francis I. also appointed twelve _Lieutenants-Général_ over the frontier Provinces. During the Civil War these were extended to most of the Provinces; and the _Governors_, as they now were called, made themselves so powerful as to be ‘very kings.’ Henry IV. did his best to buy off these Governors; but their power was not finally overthrown till the time of Richelieu.

3. In 1551 Henry II. instituted _Tribunaux Présidiaux_ as intermediate Courts between the Parlements and those of the Baillis or Sénéschals.

4. The nobles still retained their Seignorial Courts; but these, jealously watched by the Baillis and Sénéschals, were confined to questions between the Seigneur and his dependants.

5. The towns enjoyed municipal government, which varied very much, but was usually composed of a General Assembly which elected a Corps de Ville, which in its turn elected a municipality composed of the Mayor and échevins (sheriffs). In Paris the Prévôt des Marchands took the place of the Mayor. The rights of election, however, became day by day more and more visionary. The officials were usually nominated by the Crown, often in return for money. The towns also had their Courts, but the judicial powers, always limited, were finally withdrawn.

In Paris, however, there was a peculiar Court, that of the _Châtelet,_ under the Prévôt of Paris (to be distinguished from the Prévôt des Marchands). The Prévôt of Paris had no Baillis or Sénéschal over him. He administered the police of the city, and heard cases on appeal from the Seignorial Courts of the town and district, as well as certain cases especially reserved to the _Châtelet_, such as dowries, rights of succession to property, etc.

The Estates-General (États Généraux).

Composed of three Chambers, consisting of deputies from the three
Orders of Nobles, Clergy, Tiers État (Third Estate).

_Mode of Election._--On fixed day, nobles, clergy, and townsmen met
in chief town of Bailliage or Sénéchaussée.

_Nobles and Clergy by direct Election._--The nobles and clergy drew
up their cahiers (petitions), and elected their deputies separately.

_Tiers État by double Election._--The townsmen chose a body of
electors, who drew up the cahier, and elected the deputy.

After 1484 the peasants of the villages took part in the election of
the Electoral Body.

In some of the Provinces a different system prevailed. Thus in
Languedoc and Champagne, the three orders elected their deputies in
common; in Brittany, the deputies of one order were chosen by the
other two orders.

_Procedure._--On the meeting of Estates-General the three orders
were summoned to a Royal Séance (Session), in which the reasons for
the summons were given.

The orders then separated, and each order proceeded to draw up their
general cahier apart. The three cahiers having then been presented
to the King, the States-General was dismissed.

_Powers._--The States-General were originally summoned not to
discuss, but to hear the will of the King, and to present
grievances.

These Petitions were of considerable value, for, although the
States-General was dismissed without having received the answer of
the King, the cahiers often furnished the basis for royal
ordinances. At various dates the Estates-General attempted to gain
the same powers as those finally secured by the English Parliament:

1. Frequent and regular Sessions.

2. That their petitions should be answered.

3. Control of taxation and of policy.

4. Appointment, or at least responsibility, of ministers.

But in spite of notable attempts, especially those of 1355-1358,
1484, 1561 (p. 398), 1576-7 (p. 423), 1588 (p. 431), the
States-General failed in obtaining its object, and after 1614,
ceased to be summoned until 1789.

_Reasons for failure of the States-General._--It is sometimes said
that the States-General did not represent France; it is more correct
to say that it represented France too well--in its want of cohesion,
its class divisions, its absence of local government. Nor were the
circumstances of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
propitious. During that period, the hundred years’ war, and the
religious wars, led the people of France to lean on the King; the
privileges of the feudal nobles prevented any unanimity between the
upper and lower classes, and allowed the bureaucracy to gain such
strength that it was impossible subsequently to overthrow it.

Thus the causes of failure may be tabulated as follows:--

1. The existence of three Houses prevented unanimity, more
especially because they represented class divisions which were
deep. The nobility being a caste dependent on blood; while the
upper offices of the Church were also filled by nobles.

2. There was no class of country gentry as in England, from whom
the knights of the shire were elected, and who united with the
burgesses in the House of Commons.

3. The number of royal officials elected as deputies of Tiers
État was generally very large.

4. The Estates-General of Orleans (1439), in establishing a
permanent army by the Ordonnance sur la Gendarmerie, was held to
have granted to the King a permanent tax, _the Taille_; and this,
in spite of several protests, was subsequently increased at the
royal will.

5. Since the nobles and clergy were exempt from the Taille--the
first because they served in the feudal array; the latter because
of their clerical privileges--the deputies of these two orders did
not support the Tiers État in their attempt to control the
purse. Thus the States-General lost the control of the purse.

6. There was no efficient local government like that of the
English shire. The real power being in the hands of the royal
officials, the Baillis and the Sénéschals, and later, of the
Intendants.

Provincial Estates.--It is true that all the Provinces of France originally had their Provincial Estates composed of three orders.

(1) But in many Provinces they were artificial creations.

(2) They were weakened by the same class divisions as the
States-General.

Accordingly after the fifteenth century many Provinces lost their
Estates, and finally only some four survived the reign of Louis
XIV., and even those had but little power beyond that of assessing
the Taille.

The Church.--The Church had its

(1) _Ecclesiastical Courts_, which as elsewhere in Europe had attempted to extend their jurisdiction very widely, not only over clergy but over laity. By the end of the fifteenth century, however, their jurisdiction was confined to offences of clerics or laics against morals, the law or doctrine of the Church, and to cases concerning the marriage and death-bed--_e.g._ divorce, wills, etc.; any attempt on the part of the Ecclesiastical Courts to encroach on the domain of secular jurisdiction being met by the Appels comme d’abus (abuse), which were presented to the Parlement of Paris.

(2) Its Assemblies, in which, in and after the sixteenth century, the clergy voted ‘dons gratuits’ (voluntary offerings) to the Crown.

The relations of the Church to the Crown and to the Pope were further defined by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, and the Concordat of Bologna (cf. p. 81).

TAXATION.

The revenue during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was drawn from the following sources:--

I. The Royal Domain.

(_a_) Feudal incidents.

(_b_) Profits of Justice.

(_c_) Rights appertaining to the King as Sovereign--_e.g._ of
succeeding to property of aliens dying without heirs, and of all
bastards; fines on land granted in mortmain.

II. Direct Taxes.

(1) _The Taille_, which was of two kinds--

(_a_) In the _Pays d’États_ it was generally a tax on the value of
land, assessed by regular assessments, under orders of the
Provincial Assembly.

(_b_) In the other parts of France (the _Pays d’Élection_), it was a
tax levied on presumed income derived from whatever source, and
assessed in a very arbitrary fashion by Élus, who were responsible
to the Cour des Aides.

_Exempt from the Taille_ were Nobles following arms, Clergy, Students at the Universities, Royal Officials, Municipal Authorities. Thus the tax fell practically on the lower classes.

(2) _Dons Gratuits._--Taxes on clergy voted by ecclesiastical assemblies.

III. Indirect Taxes.

(1) _Aides._--Dues levied on the sale of food-stuffs, wine, and other articles.

(2) _Gabelles._--Salt was a royal monopoly; and every household had to buy so much salt for every member above the age of eight. The price was very high, but varied, as well as the amount to be bought, in different Provinces.

(3) _Customs_ at the frontiers of every Province. These in later days were so heavy that a cask of wine would pay its value before it reached Paris.

(4) _Sale of Offices._--By the end of the sixteenth century there was scarcely any royal office which was not sold.

The Aides, Gabelles, and Customs were in the hands of farmers of the taxes, who exercised great extortion.