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The Price of Offices in Pre-Revolutionary France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

William Doyle
William Doyle
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
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Extract

One of the most distinctive features of the French Ancien Régime was the sale of offices. Several European states resorted to this method of tapping the wealth of their richer subjects in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but nowhere did venality spread further through society than in France, and nowhere did its importance persist so long. Although the revolutionaries of 1789 abolished it, it reappeared for certain public functions in the early nineteenth century, and has not quite vanished even today. The origins and early history of the system have been authoritatively studied, but its eighteenth-century history has received very little attention. This is all the more curious in that France continued to be governed largely by holders of venal offices, they constituted the backbone of opposition to the government in the form of the magistrates of the parlements, and huge amounts of capital continued to be absorbed by office-buying. Even so, most historians consider that by this time the venal system was in decline. This seemed to be demonstrated by unsold offices remaining on the market, and above all by falling, office prices. For Alfred Cobban, indeed, these trends were symptoms of the decline of a whole class, the officiers. Here was ‘a section of society which was definitely not rising in wealth, and was barely holding its own in social status’ as falling office prices showed. ‘The decline seems to have been general, from the parlements downwards, though until the end of the eighteenth century it was much less marked in the offices of the parlements than in those of the présidiaux, élections, maréchaussées and other local courts.’ Resentment at this decline explained the revolutionary fervour of the officiers, whom Cobban had previously shown to be the largest bourgeois group in the National Assembly; and 1789 was largely the work not of a rising capitalist bourgeoisie, but rather of a declining professional one.

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Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 1984 , pp. 831 - 860
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

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76 Ibid. for a petition of 1770. K 889 for a printed Mémoire pour les Présidents, Trésoriers de France, Généraux des Finances, et autres officiers des Bureaux des Finances presented in 1769.

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87 Robin, P., La compagnie des secrétaires du Roi (1351–1791) (Paris, 1933), p. 30Google Scholar.

88 E.g. 74 per cent over the century at Besançon – Solnon, p. 97.

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99 Ibid., letter of Guérard, 12 June 1782.

100 Bosher, French finances, is the standar d authority on this area. He lists 1,302 financial offices but points out that they fluctuated constantly in number and are impossible to tabulate completely – pp. 77–91 passim.

101 Of the 276 office-holders listed by Bosher on pp. 319–42, 84 inherited them from relatives.

102 Ibid. p. 79.

103 AN K 892, ‘Tableau général des finances, évaluations frais de provisions et de réception et de différents offices de Trésoriers et de leurs controlleurs’.

104 See Bosher, ch. 5, passim.

105 Loc. cit. above n. 103.

106 AN F4 2022; Arrét du Conseil, 18 May 1782, printed schedule. A further 30 offices had no comparable figures.

107 AN D XVII 3, undated memorandum of the early 1790s.

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113 Ibid. p. 341.

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121 Dawson, , Provincial magistrates, pp. 255–62Google Scholar offers a clear account of this process.

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124 AN D III 378. Petition received 3 Nov. 17[91].

125 Ibid. ‘Adresse des Notaires de la ville de Toulouse à l'Assemblée Lègislative de France’ (received 12 Dec. 1791).

126 AN D XVII 4. ‘Réflexions des notaires de la viguerie de Barjols sur la suppression de la vénalité des offices de notaires’; also printed in Magnan, , Le notariat, pp. 160–7Google Scholar.

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128 E.g. it was alluded to in great detail in Adresse à l' Assemblée Nationale Léegislative, par les Notaires de la ville de Moulins, chef-lieu du Département de l' Allier (Moulins, 1791), p. 2Google Scholar. Copy in AND III 378. See too, ibid., the petition of Bordeaux notaries received on 3 Nov. 1791. The publications of the Parisian notaries themselves sought to explain the fact away, which suggests embarrassment at its notoriety. See Poisson, J. P., ‘Le notariat parisien à la fin du XVIIe siècle’, Dix-huilième siècle, VII (1975), 107–8Google Scholar.

129 Doyle, ‘Venality and society’, pp. 202, 208–9.

130 Quoted in Everat, Sénéchaussée d' Auvergne, p. 92.

131 AN F4 1938, for proposals to establish a state depository in 1780; see too Poisson, ‘Le rôle socio-économique du notariat’, loc. cit. above, n. 16.

132 Langlois, L., La communaulé des notaires de Tours de 1512 à 1791 (Paris, 1911), pp. 63, 468–70Google Scholar.

133 Quoted in de Kérangué, V. N., Essai sur la communauté des notaires royaux et apostoliques de Rennes au XVIIIe siècle (Rennes, 1904), p. 61Google Scholar.

134 Gresset, ‘Le notariat bisontin’, loc. cit. above, n. 16, pp. 71–2, 79.

136 ‘In Marseilles’ (claimed that city's procureurs in January 1790) ‘more than in any other town, procureurs are the depositaries of the fortune of individuals. Merchants, men of substance [bourgeois] and citizens of all classes entrust them with original insurance policies whose value often exceeds 300,000 l. and they are payable to the bearer…Every day they are entrusted with notes and letters of exchange of considerable value……’ AN D XVII 3.

136 The procureurs at the présidial of Rennes estimated in 1790 that there were over 60,000 – doubtless something of an exaggeration. AN D XVII 3, petition received 14 May 17[90]. Bataillard, C. and Nusse, E., Histoire des Procureurs et des Avoués 1483–1816, 2 vols. (Paris, 1882), II, 264Google Scholar suggests more probably that there were 12,000 in 1789.

137 AN D XVII 2, Mémoire à consulter, et consultation sur les abus qui se commettent depuis près d'un siècle à Lyon, dans l' instruction des procédures judiciaires; sur la nécessité” et moyens d'y rémédier (Paris, 1786), P. 59Google Scholar.

138 AN D XVII 4, ‘Mémoire pour les procureurs de la chambre des comptes de la cy-devant province de Dauphiné…’, received 6 Apr. 1791.

139 Ibid., undated petition of 1790; see too AN D XVII 7, petition of June 1791 from J. F. X. Jacquot, procureur.

140 Ibid., petition received 14 May 1791.

141 AD D XVII 3, three undated petitions.

142 Doyle, ‘Venality and society’, pp. 209–1, and graph, p. 204 (wrongly labelled courtiers).

143 Gresset, Gens de fustice, I, 61–3.

144 AN X 5b 6, collection of transfer contracts. See too D XVII 7, petitions from procureurs Prudhomme and Brunetéere, undated; D XVII 7, ‘Mémoire concernant les officiers ministériels de justice’; Bataillard and Nusse, Histoire des Procureurs, II, 75–6 speak of the highest prices in the 1780s in the 120,000–125,000 l. range, and the lowest between 35,000 and 40,000 l. See Fig. 4.

145 AN Y 5207–8; see too Bataillard and Nusse, II,. 77–8. See Fig. 4.

146 Antoine, M., Le conseil du roi sous le règne de Louis XV (Paris and Geneva, 1970), pp. 244–6Google Scholar. See too Bos, E., Les avocats aux conseils du roi. Etude sur l' Ancien Régime judiciaire en France (Paris, 1888), esp. pp. 495 and 515Google Scholar.

147 AN D XVII 3, ‘Analyse des contrats d'acquisition des offices d'avocats aux conseils du roi’. See too Göhring, Ämterkäuflichkeit, p. 286, and Hampson, N., Danton (London, 1978), pp. 22–3. See Fig. 5Google Scholar.

148 Kaiser, C., ‘The deflation in the volume of litigation at Paris in the eighteenth century and the waning of the old judicial order’, European Studies Review (1980)Google Scholar. Contemporaries were well aware of the trend too. The huissiers of Paris complained in 1780 of ‘the great diminution of business in all the courts of Paris over a number of years’ and a ‘new diminution in business at the Palace [of Justice] which has happened again since the revolutions of 1771, as is publicly notorious’ – Mémoire à consulter et consultation en faveur des huissiers-audienciers des cours et jurisdictions de Paris (Paris, 1780), pp. 4–5Google Scholar. Copies in BN Joly de Fleury 2134 and AN D XVII 2.

149 Doyle, ‘Venality and society’, p. 210. The courts were the cour des aides and the bureau des finances.

150 Kagan, R. L., ‘Law students and legal careers in eighteenth century France’, Past and Present, LXVIII (1975), 62–7Google Scholar.

151 On the nuances of status between advocates and procureurs see Berlanstein, L. R., The barristers of Toulouse in the eighteenth century (1740 1793) (Baltimore and London, 1975), pp. 5–6, 38–9Google Scholar.

152 Taylor, ‘Noncapitalist wealth’, p. 477 n. 35.

153 AN D XVII 8, ‘Etat et situation des huissiers du ci-devant Parlement de Paris, extrait de leurs titres pièces et mémoires’. See too AN U 1398. Deliberation of the huissiers, 9 Aug. 1772.

154 AN D XVII 7, letter of 3 Feb. 1791.

155 AN D XVII 3. A petition sent on 2 March 1790 lists the difference as follows (in livres):

Gresset, Gens de Justice, I, 63–4 confirms a general rise in prices for offices of huissier.

156 See above, n. 148.

157 AN D XVII 8. Petition received 20 Aug. 1791. See too Trenard, L., ‘La crise sociale lyonnaise á la veille de la Révolution,’ Rév. d'Hist. Mod. et Contemp., VI (1959), 5–10Google Scholar.

158 AN D XVII 4. Memorandum of 1790 from the huissiers, commissaires priseurs vendeurs de biens et meubles.

159 Doyle, , ‘Venality and society’, pp. 203Google Scholar (graph wrongly labelled procureurs) and 207.

160 Emmanuelli, F. X., La crise marseillaise de 1774 el la chute des courtiers. Contribution à I'histoire du commerce du Levant et de la banque (Paris, 1979)Google Scholar.

161 AND XI, ‘Pétition pour les locateurs d'office de Perruquiers de la Ville de Lyon’, received 31 July 1791. See too Doyle, , ‘Venality and society’, p. 206Google Scholar.

162 Ibid.

163 Taylor, , ‘Noncapitalist wealth’, p. 477 n. 35Google Scholar.

164 AN D XII. Undated petition from Sedan; August 1791 from Paris; see too D VI II, ‘Exposé des Maîtres Perruquiers’, undated.

165 AN D XVII 3, cited above, n. 138.

166 AN D XVII 8, undated petition.

167 AN D XVII 4, ‘Pièces relatives à la liquidation des offices de la municipalité de la Ville de Douay’.

168 AN D VI II, Considérations sur I'éta1 actuel des notaires au Châatelet de Paris et sur le droit qu'its ont à un remboursement entier du prix réel de leurs Offices (Paris, 1791), p. 8Google Scholar.

169 AN D XVII 8, petition to the Parleraent of Bordeaux, 1785.

170 Labrousse, C. E., Esquisse du mouvement des prix et des revenues en France au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1933), 2 volsGoogle Scholar.

171 Labrousse, in Histoire économique et sociale de la France II, 454–6Google Scholar.

172 Taylor, , ‘Noncapitalist wealth’, pp. 471–3Google Scholar.

173 Cobban, , Social interpretation, p. 59Google Scholar.

174 AN D XVII 4, ‘Mémoire sur les offices de seconde et troisième conseiller pensionnaire de la ville de Lille’.

175 AN D XVII 7 loc. cit. above, n. 154.

176 AN D XVII 7. Petition received 18 Aug. 1791.

177 AN D XVII 8, loc. cit above, n. 169.

178 AN K 663, ‘Mémoire des Procureurs au Parlement de Dijon’, undated, but from internal evidence after 1783.

179 AN D III 378. Adresse des notaires royaux de la ville de Nevers, à I'assemblée nationale législative (Nevers, 1792), p. 5.

180 On these problems, see Second rapport du Comité de Judicature, sur les detles des compagnies supprimées (Paris, n.d.) delivered by Gossin on 2 09 1790Google Scholar.

181 Enquiries made by Colbert in 1664 reached a total of 45, 780 offices, II per cent less than the 51,000 counted in 1778. See de Forbonnais, P. Veron, Recherches et considérations sur les finances de France, 2 vols. (Basle, 1758), 1Google Scholar, 327–9 and above, n. 9. Both these figures are probably underestimates, and between 1664 and 1778 fell the massive expansion of venality produced by efforts to finance Louis XIV's last two wars. Much of this was transitory, but a net rise in the overall number of venal offices seems certain to have resulted.

182 Bordes, M., La réforme municipale du contrôleur général Laverdy et son application (1764–1771) (Toulouse, 1967)Google Scholar.

183 For the example of the wigmakers of Bordeaux see Poussou, J. P., Bordeaux et le sud-ouest au XVIIIe siècle. Croissance économique et attraction urbaine (Paris, 1983), pp. 31Google Scholar and 124.

184 Léon, P. in Braudel and Labrousse, Histoire économique et social II, 607Google Scholar.

185 Taylor, ‘Noncapitalist wealth’, passim.

186 Quoted in Poisson, , ‘Notariat parisien’, p. 107Google Scholar.

187 Social interpretation, pp. 147–53, 168, 171–2.

188 Champion, E., La France d'après les cahiers de 1789 (Paris, 1897), p. 124Google Scholar; Taylor, G. V., ‘Revolutionary and non-revolutionary content in the cahiers of 1789: an interim report’, French Historical Studies (1972), p. 498Google Scholar.

189 See Chaussinand-Nogaret, , Noblesse au XVIIIe siècle, p. 210Google Scholar.

190 For new evidence on the Paris electorate see Rose, R. B., The making of the Sans–Culottes. Democratic ideas and institutions in Paris 1789–92 (Manchester, 1983), pp. 31–6Google Scholar.

191 ‘The myth’, pp. 100–2, no.

192 Dawson, , Provincial magistrates, p. 255Google Scholar.

193 Loc. cit above, n. 191.

194 Dawson, , Provincial magistrates, pp. 259–74Google Scholar.

195 AN D XVIII 3. Letter received 3 Sept. 1790.

196 There are however signs that the intellectual origins of the revolution are once more attracting attention. See Baker, K. M., ‘French political thought at the accession of Louis XVI’, J.M.H. L (1978), 278–303Google Scholar, and ‘On theproblem of the ideological origins of the French Revolution’ in LaCapra, D. and Kaplan, S. L. (eds.), Modern European intellectual history: reappraisals and new perspectives (Ithaca and London, 1983), pp. 197–219Google Scholar; or Hampson, N., Will and circumstance. Montesquieu, Rousseau and the French Revolution (London, 1983)Google Scholar.

197 For brief surveys see Göhring, , Ämterkäuflichkeit, pp. 299–304Google Scholar; Swart, , Sale of offices, pp. 123–5Google Scholar; Lough, J., The Philosophes and post-revolutionary France (Oxford, 1982), pp. 95–7Google Scholar.

198 Lough, , The Philosophes, p. 36Google Scholar.

199 Taylor, , ‘Revolutionary and nonrevolutionary content’, pp. 500–2Google Scholar.

200 ‘The Myth’, p. 102.

201 Premier rapport à l'Assemblée Rationale par le Comité de Judicature sur le remboursement des Offices supprimés par les Décrets des 4 et 11 Aboût 1789 (Paris, 1790), p. 6Google Scholar.