Prosecuting theft in Old Regime France, c.1540–c.1700

This article analyses a significant sample of theft cases tried in the appellate courts of the parlements of Paris and Toulouse from the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century. Despite some historians’ claims that theft was typically overlooked or settled informally, and that pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inContinuity and change Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 283 - 312
Main Author Hamilton, Tom
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.04.2024
Subjects
16th century
17th century
18th century
Archives & records
Capitalism
Conflict resolution
Courts
Courts of appeals
Crime
Historians
Louis XIV, King of France (1638-1715)
Property
Property crime
Property offences
Ridicule
Robbery
Theft
Trends
Violence
France
Europe
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Summary:This article analyses a significant sample of theft cases tried in the appellate courts of the parlements of Paris and Toulouse from the mid-sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century. Despite some historians’ claims that theft was typically overlooked or settled informally, and that property crime only became a major social problem because of the rise of industrial capitalism in the eighteenth century, this article argues that French subjects did take theft seriously in this period, even if that meant subjecting it to ridicule in cultural productions such as Molière’s celebrated play The Miser.
ISSN:0268-4160
1469-218X
DOI:10.1017/S0268416023000334