Justices ecclésiastiques et justices laïques dans les communes de la basse vallée du Rhône (XIIe -XIIIe s.)

Abstract

Church Justice and Secular Justice in Lower-Rhône Town Councils (12th-13th Centuries). The study of the urban contentions that took place in the lower Rhone valley from the 12th to the 13th century shows that, even if church institutions were endowed with a complex judicial system that had strong jurisdictional bases, they had to give in to the more and more pressing demands for autonomy made by municipalities. The town councils of Arles and Avignon, which were created in the first decades of the 12th century, had a set of tools at their disposal which was appro¬ priate not only to show the citizens that their authority was fully legitimate, but also to develop into institutions which would be capable to offer political representation to the cives. They also became jurisdictional authorities which could head urban councils as a whole. The judicial competence of law experts who came from a diversity of social backgrounds and the unrelenting claim for political and jurisdictional autonomy that was gradually advanced by groups of urban leaders were instrumental in reaching that goal. In that regard, the shape of the relationship between justice and politics shows that town councils built a jurisdictional space which was autonomous from that of the bishop and puts to the fore the roots of the distinction that was gradually made between the different kinds of judicial competence. The latter have to be taken into account if one wants to understand the organization of power relations which establishes social practices and govemement policy in all societies.