‘The nation does not even know what a jury is’: trust, fear and judicial reconstruction in the French Revolution, 1789–91

Abstract

Abstract The long and turbulent debates in the French National Constituent Assembly of 1789–91 over the creation of a jury system offer a window into the problematic nature of political trust in the French Revolution. The corruption of French mœurs, and the uncertain and contradictory place of the jury in their regeneration, preoccupied Assembly deputies. While courtroom juries were initially taken for granted as a vital pillar of the new constitution, debate repeatedly disparaged the mental and moral capacity of the French to actually weigh evidence and deliver fair verdicts, in the face of potentially intimidatory criminals and a ‘public opinion’ depicted in increasingly untrustworthy terms. The structure eventually erected sought to constrain jurors’ decision-making to an ‘infallible’ emotive response to sensory stimuli, and to ban them from rationally reviewing written evidence. This reflected deeper problems with revolutionary elites’ willingness to grant autonomy and legitimacy to the wider population: to trust the people.