The Fall and Resurrection of the Civil Bar, 1789-1820s

Abstract

Almost every element of the civic order-where state and society intersect-came under scrutiny during the French Revolution. Few institutions or traditions remained untouched, and the system of civil justice was no exception. Each regime after 1789 reshaped the hierarchy of tribunals as well as their number, location, and procedures, while modifying the selection, tenure, and roles of their judges, lawyers, and bailiffs. True, if one takes the long view it might appear as if the Revolution had had little impact on the structure of the legal profession's civil branch. In the nineteenth century, family, property, and contract disputes still brought a stream of lawsuits to the courts and to the attorneys' chambers. The equivocal role and status of these civil lawyers appear quite similar if we jump from Beaumarchais' day to Balzac's. But such apparent continuity conceals the dramatic changes that cascaded over the bar during the 1790s. It is tempting but unproductive to dismiss these revolutionary changes as a mere aberration, and it would be an even greater error to accept at face value the seeming inevitability of Napoleonic policy in putting things right once again. Approached with an open mind as a problem in policy and the policy's implementation, the unglamorous subject of the civil bar can offer a fresh and suggestive perspective on the revolutionary and Napoleonic experiences.