La preuve par la lettre : pratiques juridiques au tribunal révolutionnaire de Paris (1793-1794) - article ; n°3 ; vol.51, pg 629-642

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales - Année 1996 - Volume 51 - Numéro 3 - Pages 629-642
Seized Letters as Legal Evidence in the Paris Revolutionary Tribunale ,1793-1794. HESSE. This article examines the workings of one central mechanism for the adjudication of political differences in modern European political culture : the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal of 1793-1794. The Revolution marked transformation of the key political institution by which the nation drew the line between citizen and traitor, replacing the confessional practices of the old regime courts with trial procedure aimed at producing objective material proof of subjective political allegiances. The seized letter, through its unintended revelation of private sentiment, became the most powerful means to arrive at proof of the authentic political intentions of suspects. These letters still serve as the crucial historical evidence of revolutionary legitimacy to this day. The history of the political practices, rather the political discourses of the French Revolution suggest that the French Revolutionaries may have taken more from Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse than from his Social Contract in inventing the politics of republican transparency.
14 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.