The Parlement of Paris and You

A lot of ink has been spilled on matters relating to the executive and legislative functions of government. In fact, however, it is often the judicial function that drives the bus. Am I speaking of 20th/21st century America? How about medieval France? (Where else? When else?)

During France’s ‘Golden Age’ (1226 – 1338) a series of three major and three minor monarchs undertook a series of initiatives that could only be described in hindsight as ‘proto-democratic’.

It all began with Louis IX, ‘St. Louis’ to you. He laid the groundwork for two institutions, each with the prospect of curbing, or at least channeling, the power of the monarchy. What politician today would admit their need for outside ‘civilian counsel’ or advocate for independent ‘judicial oversight’ of executive actions? French kings in the Golden Age did just that!

Louis’ son and immediate successor, Philip III, oversaw the first formal convocation (1278) of the Parlement (Paris), an institution spun off from the much older Curia Regis (King’s Council, 1st millennium CE). A Parlement, not to be confused with a ‘parliament’, was a sovereign court with sweeping constitutional prerogatives:

• Registration of royal edicts, required before a law could take effect within the region of the court’s jurisdiction, 

• The final court-of-appeals for all matters under its purview,

• A guardian of and advocate for… 

  • the ‘fundamental laws of the kingdom’ (i.e. the foundational constitutional principles),

  • regional prerogatives and interests,

  • the interests of  ‘the nation’ as opposed to those of any one class, caste, region, or ‘estate’. 

    
    

These prerogatives effectively extend to the French people many of the rights and protections constitutionally guaranteed to the American people. I have in mind especially, but not exclusively, the 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th and 14th amendments. 

Over time, the power of the parlements evolved to the point where they could indefinitely delay, and so effectively kill, any royal edict. The flood of lawsuits and injunctions restraining sitting Presidents of both political parties in 21st century America is a reprise of the Parlements' role.

25 years further on, Philip the Fair convened the first session of the Estates General, a deliberative body designed to represent and protect the interests of the Clergy, the Nobility, and ‘enfranchised’ Citizens. The Estates was a consultative body, not a legislature; it advised the monarch on aspects of public policy. Its authority rested solely on the benevolence of the ruler and the sagacity of the guidance offered. 

The Estates General met 60 times during the 14th century, but only spasmodically thereafter until its eventual dissolution in 1790. Ultimately, the pseudo-democratic Revolution of 1789 abolished the functionally democratic institutions of the Ancient Regime, including the powerful parlements and the much weaker Estates General. 

Presumably, the will and interests of the French people were better represented under the National Convention, the Reign of Terror, the Directory, the Consulate and the Empire. How did that work out for the half million French killed by political violence from 1789 – 1803 or the one million French who lost their lives in ultimately fruitless foreign military adventures between 1803 and 1815. It was quite a quarter century!

Compare that with the fewer than 500 executions that took place during France’s ‘Golden Age’. According to Prof. Claude (Anthropic): 

“The nature of medieval governance, while certainly capable of brutality, generally didn't facilitate mass political repression on the scale seen in later centuries.”

So if you measure the effectiveness of a political regime by its annualized death toll, French Democracy out performs the Ancient Regime by four orders of magnitude. I love the smell of gunpowder and dried blood in the morning! Progress, ain’t it grand?

Comparing the Parlements with the Estates General:

• The Parlements were permanent judicial bodies, while the Estates General was an irregular assembly called at the discretion of the king and usually in times of crisis (e.g. the Hundred Years War).

• The Parlements of Paris played a pivotal role in forcing the monarchy to convene the Estates General, the first stage in the unfolding of the Revolution, when it ruled (1788) that only the Estates General could approve new taxes.

• Both shared a common fate at the hands of the Revolutionaries.

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But this article is entitled The Parlement of Paris and You. So far, we’ve heard a lot about the parlements but precious little about the ‘you’. Do you live in the United States? Then you live in a country whose constitutional development reflects contributions from England’s constitutional monarchy, from France’s Ancient Regime, and from the first green shoots of revolutionary ideology prior to the Storming of the Bastille (1789).

The structure of America's bicameral legislature is often seen as a reflection of the French Estates. I’ve made the comparison myself. The connection is not altogether invalid but it is certainly weak. For example, the U.S. Congress was intended to be the apex of political power, sharply contrasting with the much weaker Estates General.

Under the U.S. Constitution of 1789, the Congress does have a similar advisory role vis-a-vis the Executive. For example, the Senate gives ‘Advice and Consent’ on certain Presidential appointments. But the key word here is Consent.  The Senate can withhold its consent, thereby annulling the President’s appointment. The Estates General did not have that kind of power, at least not before 1788…or after 1790.

The U.S. Senate can even remove the President from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. Imagine if Philip’s nascent Estates had attempted to remove him, or any of his successors, from office; it would likely not have ended well. 

Even the Estates General of 1788 did not claim the power to depose. Nor did any of the parlements (to the best of my knowledge) but they did have the power to do what is effectively the same thing: nullify royal decrees. In that sense they functioned as a prototype for what became the independent judiciary and the federal courts (SCOTUS) in America. 

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The Crucifixion of the Parlement of Paris is a religious painting on wood by an unknown French master active between 1428 and 1450 in Tournai and Amiens. Created circa 1452, the work is part of the collection of the Louvre Museum and is currently housed in its Department of Paintings.

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