Legal Definitions - lettre de cachet

A lettre de cachet was a sealed letter issued by the King of France, authorizing the imprisonment or exile of an individual without any formal legal process, charge, or trial. It represented an arbitrary exercise of royal power, allowing for detention based solely on the monarch's will or the request of influential individuals, often without public justification.

Here are some examples illustrating the application of a lettre de cachet:

• Imagine a prominent writer in 18th-century France who publishes a series of pamphlets openly criticizing the King's extravagant spending and the government's oppressive policies. Angered by this public dissent, the King, without any formal charges or a court hearing, could issue a lettre de cachet ordering the writer's immediate arrest and indefinite imprisonment in a state prison like the Bastille.

  This illustrates how the lettre de cachet was used to silence political opposition and suppress freedom of expression, allowing the monarch to bypass the judicial system entirely and detain individuals based solely on royal decree.

• Consider a wealthy aristocratic family with a young adult son known for his reckless gambling, accumulating substantial debts, and engaging in scandalous behavior that threatens the family's esteemed reputation. To prevent further disgrace and control their son, the family could petition the King (or a high-ranking official with the authority to issue such warrants) for a lettre de cachet. This warrant would then authorize the son's confinement, perhaps to a distant monastery or a private asylum, without any legal trial or opportunity for him to defend himself against his family's accusations.

  This example demonstrates how the lettre de cachet was also utilized by powerful families, often for reasons of social control, to manage internal disputes, enforce moral standards, or protect their honor, all outside the normal legal framework.