Law of the 22nd Prairial

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The law of the 22nd Prairial (also "law of terror", French mostly loi de prairial , prairial law ') was a law that should facilitate and accelerate the condemnation and execution of opponents of the revolution. It ushered in the height of terror in the French Revolution .

The law was drafted by Maximilien de Robespierre . It was presented to the National Convention on June 10, 1794 (22nd Prairial II according to the French Revolutionary Calendar ) by Georges Couthon and, after heated debate, accepted without reservation. It regulated the competence, structure and staffing of the revolutionary tribunal , the course of the proceedings and defined the term “ enemy of the people ” ( ennemi du peuple , Art. 5 and 6). Anyone who could be called such - and that was almost always possible due to the elastic legal definition of terms - had to be punished with death, because the judgments of the Revolutionary Tribunal could only be acquittal or death (Art. 7). The law abolished the possibility for the accused to avail themselves of a defense attorney (Art. 16), simplified the taking of evidence and the requirements for conviction of the guilt of the accused - “moral evidence” was sufficient for a conviction (Art. 8). In addition, all citizens were obliged to denounce “ conspirators and counter-revolutionaries ” to the authorities (Art. 9).

In the seven weeks of its validity, 1,376 people were guillotined in Paris ; in the previous 15 months, the Revolutionary Tribunal had sentenced 1,579 deaths down. After the execution of Robespierre on 10th Thermidor II (July 28th 1794) the law was repealed.

literature

  • June 10, 1794. Law of 22nd Prairial II. In: Walter Grab (Ed.): The French Revolution. A documentation (= Nymphenburg Texts on Science. 14). Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-485-03214-X , 224 ff.
  • Walter Markov: Revolution on the witness stand. France 1789-1799. Volume 1: Statements and analyzes (= Reclam's Universal Library . 950). Reclam, Leipzig 1986, 435 ff.
  • Robert R. Palmer : Twelve Who Ruled. The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton CT 1941, (200th edition. Ibid 1989, ISBN 0-691-00761-6 ).

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