The Senatorial Commisison of individual liberty faced with measures of the State Security (1804-1814): Law adopted, law evaded?

Résumé 0

The First Empire represented a major moment of legislative codification. However, the question of the application of its laws remains little studied. For the question of individual liberties, the regime offered the promise of maintaining Revolutionary accomplishments, with the creation in 1804 of the Senatorial Commission of individual liberty, responsible for opposing arbitrary detentions (more than ten days of prison without judgement). The study of prisoner’s petitions sent to this Commission with the Minister of Police allows us to measure the gap between the text of the law and its application, despite the existance of a specific organization devoted to such controls. This investigation also reveals the acceptance and use of the law by citizens, who invoke it in defense of their rights when faced with imprisonment dictated by “measures of State security”. In the final analysis, it is important to examine the reasons for the inefficiency of a Senatorial Commission that constituted a theoretical guarantee against arbitrary practices: to safeguard the fiction of a State of law.