Seeing Justice Done: The Age of Spectacular Capital Punishment in France

by Paul Friedland

Overview

From the early Middle Ages to the twentieth century, capital punishment in France, as in many other countries, was staged before large crowds of spectators. Paul Friedland traces the theory and practice of public executions over time, both from the perspective of those who staged these punishments as well as from the vantage point of the many thousands who came to 'see justice done'. While penal theorists often stressed that the fundamental purpose of public punishment was to strike fear in the hearts of spectators, the eagerness with which crowds flocked to executions, and the extent to which spectators actually enjoyed the spectacle of suffering suggests that there was a wide gulf between theoretical intentions and actual experiences. Moreover, public executions of animals, effigies, and corpses point to an enduring ritual function that had little to do with exemplary deterrence. In the eighteenth century, when a revolution in sensibilities made it unseemly for individuals to take pleasure in or even witness the suffering of others, capital punishment became the target of reformers. From the invention of the guillotine, which reduced the moment of death to the blink of an eye, to the 1939 decree which moved executions behind prison walls, capital punishment in France was systematically stripped of its spectacular elements.

Partly a history of penal theory, partly an anthropologically-inspired study of the penal ritual, Seeing Justice Done traces the historical roots of modern capital punishment, and sheds light on the fundamental 'disconnect' between the theory and practice of punishment which endures to this day, nit only in France but in the Western penal tradition more generally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198715993
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/03/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul Friedland is Professor of History at Cornell University. His first book, Political Actors: Representative Bodies and Theatricality in the Age of the French Revolution (2002), was awarded the Pinkney Prize for the best book of the year by the Society for French Historical Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Reading and Writing a History of PunishmentPart I: The Roots of Modern Punishment in Pre-Modern Europe1. The Fall and Rise of Rome: Compensation, Atonement, and Deterrence in the Early Middle Ages2. Criminal Intent and Spectacular Punishment: The Infiltration of Roman Legal Theory and Practice into French Customary LawPART II: Executioners and the Ritual of Execution3. Extraordinary Beings: The Life and Work of Executioners4. The Execution of Justice: The Ritual of Punishment in Medieval and Early Modern FrancePART III: Spectators & Spectacle5. From Ritual to Spectacle: The Rise of the Penal Voyeur in Early Modern France6. Executions, Spectator Emotions, and the Naturalization of Sympathy7. A Spectacular Crisis: Watching Executions in the Age of SensibilitePart IV: A Death Penalty for the Modern Age8. Theorizing a New Death Penalty: Penal Reform on the Eve of the Revolution9. Legislating the New Death Penalty: The Simple Deprivation of Life10. Executing the New Death Penalty: The Invisible Spectacle of the GuillotineEpilogue: The Play Over, The Actors (Slowly) Leave the Stage (1794-1939)Conclusion: Punishment Past and Present

Editorial Reviews

"[A] well-researched and engagingly argued book...Compellingly narrated."—Journal of Modern History

"[P]resent[s] a colorful picture of a time when executions were a form of public entertainment, and provides keen insight into the origins of contemporary preoccupations with deterrence as the avowed goal of punishment. Highly recommended."—CHOICE

"[I]mpeccably researched and written...French historians, but Europeanists also, will profit from the broad reach and scholarly acumen of this book."—Pamela Pilbeam, History

"This book's impressive timespan provides the reader with access to an extraordinary range of interrelated material, which Friedland astutely juggles into a cohesive whole."
—Alex Fairfax-Cholmeley, French History

"[A] brilliant book about changing taste in executions...This thoughtful and thoughtprovoking book is filled with interesting, arcane information. The argument is clear and the research admirable."—David P. Jordan, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This fine book takes up, works with and complicates a whole series of narratives about power, justice, punishment and death...Thought-provoking at almost every turn, it poses questions about ordinary people's relationship with the most extreme manifestations of state power that continue to resonate into the present day."—David Andress, American Historical Review

"Anyone wanting to understand how capital punishment developed in the first place, both in France and on the wider European stage, and how the move towards its diminution and abolition began, should read this book."—Hugh Gough, English Historical Review

"By concentrating on the history of capital punishment when it was performed publicly in France, Friedland hopes to provoke reflection on the continued use of the death penalty in the United States today...[Friedland] has written a sweeping intellectual and cultural history that challenges a number of prevailing explanations about the rise and fall of public executions in France."—H-France

From the Publisher