The State of Society in France Before the Revolution of 1789: And the Causes Which Led to That EventTocqueville, Alexis de
History
The State of Society in France Before the Revolution of 1789: And the Causes Which Led to That Event
Tocqueville, Alexis de
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Causes
_Judicial Power._--In the same way, in the judicial organisation, it
has a tendency towards rendering the power of the judges, at least in
a great measure, dependent upon the nation assembled. And thus many
of the memorials declare ‘that the magistrates should be responsible
for the fact of their appointments to the nation assembled;’ that they
should not be dismissed from their functions without the consent of the
States-General; that no court of justice, under any pretext whatever,
should be disturbed in the exercise of its functions without the
consent of these States; that the disputed matters in the Appeal Court,
as well as those before the Parliament, should be decided upon by the
States-General. The majority of the Instructions add that the judges
ought only to be nominated by the King, upon presentation to him by the
people.
_Executive Power._--The executive power is exclusively reserved to the
King; but necessary limits are proposed, in order to prevent its abuse.
For instance, in the administration, the Instructions require that the
state of the accounts of the different departments should be rendered
public by being printed; likewise, that before employing the troops in
the defence of the country from without, the King should make known his
precise intention to the States-General; that, in the country itself,
the troops should never be employed against the citizens, except upon
the requisition of the States-General; that the number of the troops
should be limited, and that two-thirds of them alone should remain, in
common times, upon the second effective list; and that the Government
ought to keep away all the foreign troops it may have in its pay from
the centre of the kingdom, and send them to the frontiers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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