In France, the impetus for comprehensive rewriting of the old laws stemmed from (1) the existence of several parliaments, also called sovereign courts, within the country, each ruling over a region; (2) the complexity of the existing customary laws; (3) the general incompetency and disinterest of the judges; (4) the innumerable conflicts of jurisdiction and the cost of litigation. With respect to point (3), most high judicial positions were owned and could be inherited, bought, sold and sold; the legal competency of the holder or his assiduity did not matter; the positions granted all sorts of immunities and ennobled after 3 generations.
One can understand the will of the bourgeoisie to make the legal system work better for the population at large instead of its insiders. One major reform took place at the end of the reign of Louis XV, reform that aimed at the functioning of the courts not at the principles of the legal system. The reform created immense hostility in part of the nobility and the bourgeoisie and was revoked by Louis XVI at the beginning of his reign as a gesture of appeasement. A great error of his.
In England there was one parliament and the Law Lords were running the judiciary correctly. So the new legal thinking that emerged in the 18th century pushed for amendements not a wholesale rewriting of legislation.
Dear Evolved Psyché,
In France, the impetus for comprehensive rewriting of the old laws stemmed from (1) the existence of several parliaments, also called sovereign courts, within the country, each ruling over a region; (2) the complexity of the existing customary laws; (3) the general incompetency and disinterest of the judges; (4) the innumerable conflicts of jurisdiction and the cost of litigation. With respect to point (3), most high judicial positions were owned and could be inherited, bought, sold and sold; the legal competency of the holder or his assiduity did not matter; the positions granted all sorts of immunities and ennobled after 3 generations.
One can understand the will of the bourgeoisie to make the legal system work better for the population at large instead of its insiders. One major reform took place at the end of the reign of Louis XV, reform that aimed at the functioning of the courts not at the principles of the legal system. The reform created immense hostility in part of the nobility and the bourgeoisie and was revoked by Louis XVI at the beginning of his reign as a gesture of appeasement. A great error of his.
In England there was one parliament and the Law Lords were running the judiciary correctly. So the new legal thinking that emerged in the 18th century pushed for amendements not a wholesale rewriting of legislation.