parlement: Judges

Composed at first of bourgeois judges who obtained vacant seats by election or cooptation, the law courts increasingly became strongholds of a hereditary caste of magistrates. As early as the 14th cent. seats were bought, although the premier président, or parlement head, could only be a royal nominee. Despite several attempts to suppress venality, French monarchs, notably Louis XIV, actually encouraged the trend toward salable judgeships and even attached titles of nobility to them in order to raise funds.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Attempts to Abolish the Parlements
• Opposition to Royal Reforms
• Origins
• Duties and Powers
• Judges
• Bibliography

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