10 Jun 1794 Jahr - Law of 22 Prairial (year deux) is passed
Beschreibung:
This law was propositioned by Georges Auguste Couthon and supported by Robespierre.
Law of 22 Prairial makes it legal for the revolutionary tribunal to process and convict suspected counter-revolutionaries or criminals without sufficient evidence. Robespierre uses this to depose his enemies and also kill random people (how pleasant). This measure intended to strictly enforce virtue (a major effort of republican leadership) readily exemplifies the atmosphere of terror imposed upon every echelon of French society.
Following this law, the rate of executions increased.
Translation from THE LAW OF 22 PRAIRIAL YEAR II (10 JUNE 1794):
"The Revolutionary Tribunal is instituted to punish the enemies of the people.
The enemies of the people are those who seek to destroy public liberty, either by force or by cunning.
The following are deemed enemies of the people: those who have instigated the reestablishment of monarchy, or have sought to disparage or dissolve the National Convention and the revolutionary and republican government of which it is the center:
Those who have betrayed the Republic in the command of places and armies, or in any other military function, carried on correspondence with the enemies of the Republic, labored to disrupt the provisioning or the service of the armies;
Those who have sought to impede the provisioning of Paris, or to create scarcity within the Republic;
Those who have supported the designs of the enemies of France, either by countenancing the sheltering and the impunity of conspirators and aristocracy, by persecuting and calumniating patriotism, by corrupting the mandataries of the people, or by abusing the principles of the Revolution or the laws or measures of the government by false and perfidious applications;
...
Contractors of bad faith who compromise the safety of the Republic, and squanderers of the public fortune, other than those included in the provisions of the law of 7 Frimaire;
Those who, charged with public office, take advantage of it in order to serve the enemies of the Revolution, to harass patriots, or to oppress the people;
Finally, all who are designated in previous laws relative to the punishment of conspirators and counterrevolutionaries, and who, by whatever means or by whatever appearances they assume, have made an attempt against the liberty, unity, and security of the Republic, or labored to prevent the strengthening thereof.
The penalty provided for all offenses under the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Tribunal is DEATH
The proof necessary to convict enemies of the people comprises every kind of evidence, whether material or moral, oral or written, which can naturally secure the approval of every just and reasonable mind; the rule of judgments is the conscience of the jurors, enlightened by love of the Patrie; their aim, the triumph of the Republic and the ruin of its enemies; the procedure, the simple means which good sense dictates in order to arrive at a knowledge of the truth, in the forms determined by law.
It is confined to the following points.
Every citizen has the right to seize conspirators and counterrevolutionaries, and to arraign them before the magistrates. He is required to denounce them as soon as he knows of them.
The accused shall be examined publicly in the courtroom: the formality of the preceding secret examination is suppressed as superfluous; it shall take place only under special circumstances in which it is deemed useful for a knowledge of the truth.
If either material or moral proofs exist, apart from the attested proof, there shall be no further hearing of witnesses, unless such formality appears necessary, either to discover accomplices or for other important considerations of public interest."
(Sorry that this excerpt is so long, but I couldn't resist. Doesn't it sound absolutely insane. Clearly despotic fascism)
Zugefügt zum Band der Zeit:
Politics of Fear
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Datum:
