CHÂTELET DE PARIS - CIVIL PROCEEDINGS AND LEGAL WRITS - Lot 324

CHÂTELET DE PARIS - CIVIL PROCEEDINGS AND LEGAL WRITS Set of handwritten documents on stamped paper and parchment, Paris, circa 1760-1780. In folio and in-4. Numerous Châtelet de Paris tax stamps, autograph signatures of clerks, procurators and judicial officers. Interesting set of Parisian judicial archives from the Châtelet de Paris during the reign of Louis XV and the early reign of Louis XVI, including writs, sentences, service of documents, civil proceedings and deeds relating to various cases of inheritance, claims and urban litigation. The documents notably involve Gabriel Henry Bernard, marquis de Boulainvilliers, seigneur de Passy, as well as various attorneys, clerks and King's advisors. Several documents bear the signatures or mentions of Charles Garet, procureur au Châtelet, and concern proceedings before the civil jurisdiction of the Châtelet de Paris. They include service of documents, copies of sentences, appeal proceedings, bailiff's writs and documents relating to inheritance and property disputes. The documents also deal with real estate in Paris, liens, mortgages, bonds and debt settlements, providing a particularly vivid insight into the workings of Parisian civil justice on the eve of the French Revolution. The ensemble displays a remarkable administrative materiality: stamped paper with the Châtelet coat of arms, embossed tax stamps, control notations, marginal annotations, notarial and judicial signatures, old visas and apostilles. Several items are written in beautiful 18th-century cursive handwriting, with calligraphy that is highly representative of Ancien Régime judicial practices. These documents, drawn from the papers of a Châtelet lawyer and proceduralist, provide invaluable insight into Parisian judicial practice, the circulation of deeds and the management of civil affairs in the last decades of the Ancien Régime. Some dampstaining, small tears and marginal wear, not serious for reading. A fine documentary and decorative set, of great interest for the history of Parisian law and judicial institutions.