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How did the administration of local government change 1774-1815?…
How did the administration of local government change 1774-1815?
The Ancien Regime 1774-1789
intendants: royal agents, responsible for financing, policing and justice. 36 intendants, one for each department
selected by the king, all close allies of the king
13 parlements: sovereign courts, job was to hear civil and criminal cases the local courts couldn't solve. had the right of remonstrance (right uses by paris parlement during revolution), gave them the right to criticise royal decrees. king could overrule parlement and force the acceptance of an edict with the lit de justice, but the king might be accused of despotism.
most judges holding venal offices, not elected
in rural areas, seigneurs, land owning nobles, had considerable influence, even some running their own courts.
under jurisdiction of their local seigneurs- fuedalism
regional variation in law, roman in south, common in north
tax farmers general, corrupt
The Revolutionary Period 1789-1799
Decrees of December 1789 and February and May 1790 re-formed the structure of local government by:
Dividing France into 83 departments
Departments were subdivided into 547 districts, which were then divided into 43,360 communes, which represented individual parishes or communities
each department was to have its own elected council of 36, who would be responsible for the areas administration
these councils had no centralised reporesentation on them
these councils were made responsible for law and order within their localities
they were also responsible for the collection of taxes
august decrees, removal of feudalism
DECENTRALISATION
no centralised auth in the provinces results in chaos. revolutionary war highlights the lack of central authority, leads to the emergence of the terror, strong dictator needed to lead the country in war.
Declaration of the rights of man and citizens
- abolition of lettre de cachet- goes against rev principles
Napoleonic France 1799-1815
- Prefects:
each department would have a prefect - the men responsible for managing local government throughout France
they acted as agents of the central gov and were directly appointed by N and accountable solely to him
heart of the system of state control
expected to monitor closely public opinion in their areas and to report on any suspicious political activity
The General Police
:
Monitored the state of public opinion in the city and to report daily on variations in food prices
trained spies - surveillance, censorship, organised raids on areas believed to be sheltering draft dodgers or enemy agents
Gendarmerie:
everyday law enforcement
dealing with bandits, theft and violent crime
putting down riots or rebellions
helping to enforce conscription
Livret
- controlling workers
In 1810, a system of arbitrary imprisonment without trial was reintroduced (although the use of house arrest was favoured)
a number of extra prisons were built in France and it is estimated that in 1814 they were occupied by about 16,000 ordinary convicts (three times as many as in 1800)
reintroduces restriction of labour, livret, to an extent controls
the gendarmes generally proved effective, even though there were still gangs of wandering labourers and urban unemployed that could cause periodic incidents, and enforcing conscription was not always easy
brings back lettre de cachet in 1810
continuity with ancient regime, all about centralisation and control
N in charge of which judges are appointed. reforms court system, makes it more streamlined, at first relies on code napoleon, but introduces more punitive measures, with the 1810 penal code
brings back centralisation in the form of the prefects, same role as the intendants
chooses them, not democratic
How successful was Napoleon in removing opposition to his regime?