1983
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Olwen Hufton, « Le paysan et la loi en France au XVIIIe siècle », Annales, ID : 10.3406/ahess.1983.410950
The Peasant and the Law in Eighteenth Century France. In preindustrial societies the absence of effective law enforcement agencies left much of the business of settling disputes and punishing crime to community and industrial initiative. Going to court was for many reasons, including the cost and effort, kept reserve to deal with specific types of civil and criminal activity. This short study examines, by references to differing regional practise, how and when the 18th century peasant used the official mechanism of the law and when he chose or was forced to ignore it as inadequate to secure redress of his grievances. Such an approach sheds lights on that most tantalisingly obscure of issues, the hidden face of crime.