Contact with the formal court system in eighteenth-century France was far more common for ordinary people than it is today in the industrialized world. In northern Burgundy most people stood before the judge for one reason or another at least a couple of times a year. The judge oversaw most meetings of the village community. Once a year, the married men and widows in each village assembled in the judge's presence to report on village affairs, have laws pertaining to daily life read to them, and see some minor disputes resolved. With the prosecutor's help the local judge also policed the sale and consumption of alcohol, regulated the grain trade, made surprise raids on pubs, and inspected private homes for fire hazards. In many local jurisdictions all transfers of property had to be reported to the local court to ensure the collection of seigneurial taxes. The oversight of village agriculture required as many appearances before the judge as all other functions of the court combined. After a death the extended family of the deceased generally met at least twice in the presence of the judge. Lawsuits were also common, involving a family on average about four times in a decade; and each of these lawsuits required several appearances before the judge.

The influence of local courts, however, was not limited to those moments when ordinary people found themselves in front of the judge.