International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2024

Ordinary People as Litigants in Eighteenyth-Century France, or How to Double the Number of Lawsuits Overnight by Making Courts More Accessible

(Abstract)

Jeremy Hayhoe

In early modern Europe, while the justice system in theory provides people with access to dispute resolution, in practice, high costs and complex procedures limit their ability to access justice. Simplifying legal procedures and reducing costs are key to meeting the ordinary people’s demand for justice. The complexity of calculating litigation rates in early modern Europe was highlighted by the differences between written and oral proceedings. Reforms introduced during the French Revolution aimed to address the unmet need for justice among the ordinary people, but their impact varied by region and the specific reforms implemented. The reduction of litigation costs through simplified procedures greatly increased the number of lawsuits, suggesting that legal barriers had limited access to justice. The institutional and judicial diversity of early modern Europe and the interest of administrators and legislators in improving access to justice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries illustrate the complex interplay between legal reforms and societal needs. While litigation declined in some areas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, further research is needed to understand broader patterns of litigation across Europe.