FRA 
crown, and extended to a confiderable degree the vaf- 
falage by feudal tenure. The vigour of Philip furnamed 
Align fins, redored much of the regal authority ; while 
tlje jit dice and wifdom which his edicts difplayed, com- 
mandcd the obedience of his fubjedts, and gave vigour 
and unanimity both to the national alTemblies and the 
government. The integrity and piety of his fon and fuc- 
ceffor Louis IX. call the fame lultre on the crown as had 
adorned it during the profperous reign of Philip. his 
jufiice and humility difpofed his fubjedts to liden with 
reverence to a legifl/itor, who, fevere to himfelf, diredled 
his foie views to the benefit of the date. The encourage¬ 
ment which this prince gave to the code of Judinian, and 
the body of inditutions which in bis reign were compiled 
from the Roman laws, eftablilhed a grand improvement 
in the maxims of jurifprudencc, and in the cognizance of 
all civil caufes. ' New courts were eredted by his autho¬ 
rity throughout the kingdom ; yet the feudal judges who 
prefided over them were but ill qualified patiently to in- 
vedigate the theory of a complicated fcience, or to toil 
through volumes which daily increafed upon their hands; 
the numerous charter of enfranchifement which had 
been granted to different towns and villages, required a 
rigid invedigation to modify and explain, and the pared 
patriotifm to render judice to each refpedtive claim, 
lfence the canonids by degrees entered into the func¬ 
tions of judicature, and became condituent members of 
thole courts of judice which were fummoned by the 
kings, either for the determination of general feudal 
quedions, or of private claims of right ; and which were 
convened at any time, or in any part of the kingdom, ac¬ 
cording to the royal pleafure. The fecular peers and 
lords, whom they at fird only adided with their advice, 
foon yielded to their fuperiority in thofe tribunals ; in¬ 
dead of the fimplicity and concifenefs which chara< 5 ferifed 
tiie feudal forms of trial, and the martial fplendour of a 
military court, the judges, in peaceful dignity, devoted 
their atiention to the nice difeuflion of law quedions, and 
encouraged thofe lubtleties which afterwards devolved 
an arbitrary controul in every individual fucceffor to 
the crown. The national alTemblies now funk into dif- 
ufe ; the court of peers, which originally was con.i- 
j ofed of only fix fecular and fix ecclefiadical lords, but 
which had infenfibly admitted the mod powerful barons 
and bilhops, and the principal officers of the crown, were 
alfo redrained to appeals which involved the interelts 
of perfons of the fame rank, the privileges of the 
peerage, or the pretenfions of the throne. But Philip 
the Fair, the grandfon of St. Louis, alarmed by the 
thunders of the Vatican, and defirous of finding fupport 
in the zeal and concurrence of his people, convened an af- 
fembly of the three orders of his kingdom, the nobility, 
the clergy, and the commons ; and thus for the fird 
time, in 1299, gave the people a voice in the grand coun¬ 
cil of the date. 
The example of Philip was imitated by his fucceffors ; 
and thefe alTemblies, which obtained indilcriminately the 
names of States-General and Parliaments, were held as the 
necellities of the fovereign fuggeded, till the reign of 
Louis XIII. Blit the kings of France, ever jealous of 
their power, endeavoured to prevent them from adorn¬ 
ing a regular edablilhment ; the place of their meeting 
was frequently changed, and feveral provincial alTemblies, 
to diminidi the dangerof their unanimity, were repeatedly 
held at the fame time, and- overawed by commifiioners 
from the crown. The later princes of the houfe of Va¬ 
lois even endeavoured to fubditute in their place con¬ 
ventions of the notables, and other pariial meetings of 
the nobles ; and never but when didrefs impelled them 
did they refort to their lad refource, the meeting of the 
dates-general or parliaments. But while the fovereigns 
of France were imprelTed with a jealoufy of thefe affem- 
blies, they nourifhed with care that court of judice which 
was compofed of the mod eminent among the nobility, 
the clergy, and the profelTors of the law', and which, 
Vol. VII. No. 466. 
N C E. 761 
equally with the national affcmbly and the Jlales-general, had 
acquired the denomination of Parliament. Philip the 
Fair fixed the permanent feat of it at Paris; and as one 
chamber was infufficient for the arrangement and difpatch 
of appeals, he formed another, which was called the 
Chamber of Inqueds. Thefe chambers were appointed 
to meet twice in the year at the terms of All Saints and 
Eader, when their fedions were continued for two months: 
but it is probable, that during the anarchy of the unfor¬ 
tunate reign of Charles VI. the magidrates continued to 
fit without interrnifiion ; and the fefiions of tire French 
parliaments from that time could only be legally pro¬ 
rogued by theirown confent, or the termination of public 
bufinefs. From the moment that the parliament of Paris 
was edablifhed, the progrefs of it was rapid and intered- 
ing. The principal barons prefided with their fwords by 
their fides, as the ftipreme judges ; but ignorant them- 
felves of the jurifprucience, their decifions were directed 
by the opinions of the mod able lawers, who, as coun- 
fellors, explained to them the edifils of the date and the 
cudotns of the kingdom. The nobles, during the cala¬ 
mities which afflifted the sera of Charles VI. deferted 
their judicial dation ; and it was immediately occupied 
by the mod able profeflbrs of the law. When Charles 
VII. recovered Paris from the Engliih, it was his fird care, 
to re-edablifli the adniinidration of judice ; he compofed 
thegrand chamberof parliament of thirty counfellors, half 
laity and half ecclefiadics ; the chamber of inqueds he aug¬ 
mented to forty members; and confining his appoint¬ 
ments to thofe only verfed in the law, he delivered, 
his people from the capricious partiality of an intolerant 
nobility. 
The necedity of providing fome permanent repofitory 
for the royal edifits, induced the kings of France to enroll 
them in the journals of their courts of parliament ; and 
the members of thofe courts foon availed themfelyes of 
this cudom, to difpute the legality of any regulation 
which had not been thus regidered. But the right of re- 
mondrating, which in modern times had been aflerted 
with fo much vigour, only fird appeared in the reign of 
Louis XL and during tiie minority of his fon Charles 
VIII. when the duke of Orleans difputed the regency. 
As the influence of the dates-general diminiflied, that 
of the parliament daily ijicreafed ; the court of peers, re- 
figning its feparate claim of jurifdiftion, was blended with 
it; and the kings ef France by holding their fupreme 
beds of jujlice in this court, inveded it with the fupreme au¬ 
thority of the date both in civil and criminal affairs. The 
encroachments of the fee of Rome fird engaged the atten¬ 
tion of the parliament; and in the reign of Francis I. fome 
drong remondrances were prefented againd the mifma- 
nagement of the finances, and the impious rapacity which, 
had dripped St. Martin of the filver rails that had been 
bedowedonhis fhrine by Louis XI. 
In the fubfequent reign of Henry III. when France was 
agitated by the ambition of the houfe of Lorrain, and the 
formidable confederacy of the League, the parliament 
maintained pure and unfiiaken their allegiance to their 
fovereign. On the affaflination of the duke of Guife, the 
capital was fubjedled to the licentious caprice of the 
council offixteen; and Harlai, the prefident of the par¬ 
liament, with Meffrs. de Thou and Potier, who had in¬ 
curred the difpleafures of the zealous leaguers, were by 
the trumphapt faction committed to the Badile. A more 
unfortunate fate awaited the prefident Briflon, who after 
the adaffination of Henry III. had endeavoured to awake 
the loyalty of the Parilians towards Henry IV. and was 
executed, without the form of trial, by a ientence of the 
council of fixteen. When that monarch recovered his 
capital, he redored the parliament to its dignity and 
freedom ; and thofe edicts which had been extorted by 
the power of the league againd himfelf and his predecel- 
for, were formally annulled. But when Henry himfelf, 
grateful for the former fervices of the protedants, whole 
religious tenets he had abjured, in the edibt of Nantz, 
9 ii _ which 
