This award-winning book traces the development of the French legal profession between the reign of Louis XIV and the French Revolution, showing how lawyers influenced, and were influenced by, the period's passionate political and religious conflicts.

• Introduction


• Ch. 1 The World of the Law


• Ch. 2 Building an Independent Profession


• Ch. 3 "A Sort of Absolutely Independent Little Republic at the Center of the State"


• Ch. 4 The Seminary of Publicists


• Ch. 5 The Profession Transformed


• Ch. 6 The Vanguard of Reform


• Conclusion


• Notes


• Bibliographic Note


• Index

David A. Bell is Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions at Princeton University. He is the author of many books, including Napoleon: A Concise History, Shadows of Revolution: Reflections on France, The Cult of the Nation in France, and The First Total War.