François Gayot de Pitaval

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François Gayot de Pitaval (* 1673 in Lyon ; † 1743 ibid) was a French lawyer and author. He was best known for his Causes célèbres et intéressantes, avec les jugemens qui les ont décidées (Famous and Interesting Legal Cases and Their Judgments), a collection of criminal cases with which he became the founder of the genre of court reporting. In the 19th century the name Pitaval became synonymous with collections of legal cases.

biography

François Gayot de Pitaval was first a soldier in Lyon. He later studied law and became a lawyer in 1713. He was a lawyer at the Parlement (the court in Paris at the time of the Ancien Régime ) during the time of Louis XIV .

Causes celebres

The collection of Causes célèbres et intéressantes, avec les jugemens qui les ont décidées was compiled and published in twenty volumes by Pitaval between 1734 and 1743. These are the most famous criminal cases of his time. The basis was the process files of the respective cases. Here you can find, among other things, the minutes of the trials of the Martin Guerre case , the poison affair or the devils of Loudun .

In the Causes célèbres, he explains not only the course of the litigation, but also the psychological and human entanglements on which the respective case is based and the uncovering of the offenses. This type of presentation distinguishes the Causes célèbres from earlier collections of legal cases, which focus on legal cases Concentrated facts. At the same time, the usually high level of punishment and the harshness of the criminal prosecution and enforcement of sentences at the time are deliberately presented, less as a deterrent than to criticize the practice. Pitaval also clearly criticized the backwardness of the judiciary, corruption and ignorance of the judiciary. Because of this critical move, François Gayot de Pitaval is also considered one of the pioneers of the French Revolution .

The target audience was, on the one hand, the specialist audience of lawyers, but the general public also felt addressed and entertained by the collection of criminal cases. The collection he edited became a bestseller even then.

Effects of the Pitaval

Initially, the Pitavals collection formed the model and finally the generic term “Pitaval” for the collection of sensational criminal cases such as “ The New Pitaval ” by Julius Eduard Hitzig and Willibald Alexis (1842–1890), Egon Erwin Kisch's “ Prager Pitaval ” and one Variety of other collections. The television of the GDR called a propaganda series, to which, for example, " The Heyde-Sawade Affair " belonged, "Bonner Pitaval".

The cases compiled by Pitaval formed a treasure trove for authors of crime and horror literature. For example, the film Sommersby is based on the case of Martin Guerre described by Pitaval , the cases of the Marquise de Brinvilliers and Catherine Monvoisin were used as the background for ETA Hoffmann's “ The Fraulein von Scuderi ” .

expenditure

  • Causes célèbres et intéressantes, avec les jugemens qui les ont décidées. 1734–1743 ( digital copies of individual volumes in Gallica ).
  • Stories from the old Pitaval. Edited according to the selection made by Schiller and with additional pieces by Paul Ernst. 3 volumes. Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1910.
  • The real stories of old Pitaval. Strange legal cases as a contribution to human history. According to the ed. By CE Franz and in particular by Friedrich Schiller. Translation revised by Helmuth Eggert. 2nd Edition. Gebr. Richter's publishing house, Erfurt 1950.
  • The Pitaval. Selected u. initiated v. Erich Brautlacht. Bleckede, Meissner approx. 1950.
  • Unheard of criminal cases. A collection of famous and strange criminal cases. After the selection and translation published by Friedrich Schiller from 1792–1794 , revised and compiled. Voltmedia, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-937229-03-5 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pitaval, François Gayot de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lawyer and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1673
PLACE OF BIRTH Lyon
DATE OF DEATH 1743
Place of death Lyon