Extract
[...] In the middle of the 15th century, many attempts at codification had already been made, but always from a private point of view and, as a result, could hardly be invoked in court as binding law. In addition, after the Hundred Years' War, it was clear that France was devastated and had to face an urgent reconstruction, particularly in its administrative capabilities. In fact, in the text of the ordinance, the king specifies that his country was in a state of disorganization that needed to be resolved for its survival. [...]
[...] In order to answer such a question, we will analyze, in a first part, the advantages sought by the transition from custom to written law and, in a second part, the guarantees offered to litigants through the regulation of the judicial apparatus and the strengthening of the role of the king (II). I. A necessary transition from customary and oral law to written law The ordinance inserts itself into a context of a multitude of oral norms, not written down in writing, and which show important gaps and defects in a legal system at the end of a war whose reconstruction is a priority and which require a reform in the sense of a transition from oral to written A. [...]
[...] With this ordinance, in fact, Charles VII intended to increase the protection of guarantees for litigants, by conferring on the king the role of guardian of customs and thus restoring a central place to royal authority and A. The desire to strengthen the unity of law in favor of litigants With the transition to written law, the first direct consequence becomes the fact that, without providing any other proof than what will be written in this book », The customs, thus codified, will no longer need to be proven later. [...]
[...] The ordinance was a royal legislative text, taken by the king or by a royal authority. In this case, the ordinance had been taken by the king Charles VII, king in the period between 1422 and 1461, and issued at the Château de Montils-lès-Tours, favorite residence of the king, after mature deliberation» and " considering that kingdoms, without good order of justice, cannot have endured nor any firmness at all». Charles VII indeed wished to implement a major reform of the justice system in the kingdom, which had long been oppressed by wars and divisions, through a flagship measure that was the codification of local customs and practices in force at that time. [...]
[...] The different instances had to work in concert, ordinary jurisdictions and high jurisdictions in order to ensure this legal unity. It is therefore with this purpose that King Charles VII sets up a centralized and organized system of control in a concern for order and legal intelligibility and certainty. However, this transition to a written law, supposed to be more efficient, rapid and certain, also conceals the king's will to recenter his role in the administration of justice and to recall his royal prerogatives, proper to the idea of absolute sovereignty. [...]
