23 Prairial
An CCXXXIV
Law of suspects
In the summer of 1793, the young Republic was threatened from within and without. The politicians in Paris took action. Ruthlessly – and not only with the guillotine. The Convention decreed that all suspects were to be imprisoned. No troublesome formalities, no indictment, no trial. Anyone considered an enemy of liberty, and that included the indifferent, was sent to prison. The revolutionary committees, now present throughout the Republic, made extensive use of this power. Denunciation became a civic duty. The Law of Suspects was an emergency law for emergency times – and a license for injustice. But with it the revolutionaries secured the ability to stifle any resistance before it could begin.
1793 - 1795
- August 12, 1793 · Delegates from the primary assemblies, who have come to Paris to celebrate the new Constitution, appear before the National Convention. Danton takes up their demands and calls for harsh measures against the internal enemies of the Revolution.
- September 5, 1793 · A delegation from Paris demands decisive measures in the National Convention against conspirators, speculators, and counter-revolutionaries. Billaud-Varenne supports it and calls for the immediate arrest of all suspects.
- September 17, 1793 · The Convention passes the Law of Suspects – loi des suspects. It allows the arrest of all persons regarded as enemies of the Revolution:
opponents of liberty
, federalists, suspect officials, former nobles, and people without a recognized certificate of citizenship. The local revolutionary committees are responsible for lists, arrest warrants, and searches. - June 10, 1794 · With the Law of 22 Prairial, which greatly simplifies the passing of death sentences by the Revolutionary Tribunal, the overcrowded prisons are to be emptied. In France, in the summer of 1794, around 80,000 people are imprisoned as enemies of the Revolution.
- July 27, 1794 · 9 Thermidor. Fall of Robespierre. Over the following three days, numerous members of the Paris Commune are executed. Many of them had also served on the revolutionary committees.
- August 24, 1794 · The Convention curbs the power of the Paris revolutionary committees and reorganizes them. As a result, the Law of Suspects loses an important part of its enforcement apparatus.
- October 1795 · The outgoing Convention repeals the Law of Suspects.
Quotes
Immediately after the publication of the present decree, all suspect persons who are within the territory of the Republic and still at liberty shall be placed under arrest.
Article 1
The following are deemed suspect persons: 1. those who, whether by their conduct, their relations, their remarks, or their writings, have shown themselves to be supporters of tyranny or federalism and enemies of liberty; […]
Article 2
Those who, while having done nothing against liberty, have done nothing for it either.
Definition of the enemies of the Revolution by Anaxagoras Chaumette, leading member of the Paris Commune, October 1793
Le Moniteur
Prisoners of the French Revolution
External links
