JOURNAL: La justice et le secret (Droit et Cultures LXXXIII (2022/1)) [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Openedition)

Secret et (in)justice (éditorial) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8009)

La justice et le secret, une longue histoire commune (Christophe Archan) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7770)

Dans le secret de la juridiction domestique. Le châtiment des femmes dans la Rome antique (Julie Meyer)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7775)
Abstract:

This study examines the fate of female criminals in ancient Rome. Most of the time, even when a criminal woman had been openly condemned, punishment was often administrated by the private sphere, for utmost discretion. Secrecy therefore was a prime goal when it came to crimes such as adultery or consumption of wine: the problem was resolved within the household, by the husband or possibly by members of the family. Understanding the reasons for such secrecy surrounding the punishment of criminal women will help to see if sometimes, in certain cases, this discretion was discarded in favor of a public sentence and if therefore the secrecy surrounding the fate of the criminal woman could sometimes be broken.

La part de l’ombre… Les juges et médiateurs devant l’aménagement du secret aux Xe et XIe siècles (Laura Viaut)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7851)
Abstract:

The assemblies of justice of the year 1000, held in the public square, are well known. One might think that its public aspects do not allow secrets. But legal sources show us a very distinct reality: a system with restorative logics, an optional truth, a collective conscience above the conscience of the judge.

Un verdict du jury impénétrable ? Le secret de la procédure criminelle anglaise (XIIe-XIIIe s.) (Kim-Thao Le)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7911)
Abstract:

At the turn of the XIIth and XIIIth centuries, the English criminal jury evolved: it is not only in charge of presenting and gathering information anymore, it now has the function to deliver the verdict at the trial. Because it relies on the vere dictum according to the jurors’ conscience, the verdict appears inscrutable. To what extent is this true? And how to explain the secret surrounding the verdict of a jury conceived as omniscient in England while mostly in the rest of the West Europe, procedure was based on a system of rational evidence?

Un tribunal ou une tribune ? Comment faire taire les anarchistes ? (Gilles Ferragu)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7960)
Abstract:

This paper focuses on anarchist trials in late nineteenth century France and the question of the secret as a weapon to fight against the propaganda strategies of terrorists claiming to be anarchists. Through various examples of trials and proposed regulations for debates, we will attempt to understand how anarchists, magistrates and deputies confronted each other in an arena other than the street...

L’éternelle tentation inquisitoire (Vincent Sizaire)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8000)

La poursuite du meurtre secret dans l’Angleterre des XIIIe et XIVe siècles : entre responsabilité sociale et besoins du fisc (Christophe Archan)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8045)
Abstract:

At the beginning of the Anglo-Norman period, King William the Conqueror organized a system of collective responsibility to protect the members of his aristocracy. Therefore, in the event of the murder of a ‘Frenchman’ and when the perpetrator has not been identified, the local lord is considered responsible for the offense and must pay a very heavy fine. But if he cannot, the entire population of the district (hundred) where the crime took place is called upon to redeem the “secret murder” (murdrum). Over time, this fine became a significant windfall for the Treasury, which was difficult to waive despite the disappearance of the threat to the French and their gradual assimilation into the population of England. The royal judges then seek to take advantage of the ancient rule as much as possible. But on the other hand, local authorities are doing everything to escape what increasingly appears to them as a disguised tax levy.

Un crime secret : la difficulté de la preuve de l’empoisonnement à travers la jurisprudence du parlement de Paris (1682-1789) (Gwenaëlle Callemein)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8105)
Abstract:

L’empoisonnement est le crime secret par excellence. Crime de l’intérieur, le plus souvent réalisé au sein de la famille, il est particulièrement difficile d’en apporter la preuve. Le juge doit nécessairement ordonner des expertises pour affirmer ou infirmer la présence de poison. Si l’évolution des connaissances médicales commence à faciliter sa reconnaissance, la justice n’en reste pas moins confrontée aux problèmes de preuve durant toute l’instruction. Les témoins sont rares, ou seulement indirects, et l’aveu est bien souvent le seul moyen d’établir de façon certaine la culpabilité de l’accusé, mais il reste difficile à obtenir. L’étude des procès pour empoisonnement permet ainsi de révéler les rouages de la justice criminelle lorsqu’elle se trouve confrontée au secret.

Le secret par l’épée. Duel, vie privée et liberté de la presse (1819-1940) (Mathieu Soula)

Le juge judiciaire et le secret des affaires (Aurélie Ballot-Léna)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8110)
Abstract:

In view of an interdisciplinary research on “justice and secrecy”, the purpose of the study is the judicial treatment of the trade secrets, born from practice and often invoked in courtrooms. Recognized by EU Directive 2016/943 of June 8, 2016 of the European Parliament and of the Council, transposed into the commercial Code by Law No. 2018-670 of July 30, 2018, henceforth, trade secrets benefit from their own legal protection regime. The analysis shows that the judge occupies a central place. In charge of control the balance of the interests involved, he may be a keeper of the secret as well as an agent of its disclosure.

Studies

The Organizing Principles of Aboriginal Justice(Christophe Darmangeat) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8280)
Abstract:

The various procedures that constitute the repertoire of traditional Australian Aboriginal justice can be organized, on the formal level, around three characters, that is: symmetry, mode of designation and moderation. All three criteria correspond to social dimensions. Asymmetry expresses guilt, while symmetry expresses a situation where it has not been acknowledged. The mode of designation reflects both the individual or collective nature of the accused party and the willingness, if necessary, to circumscribe the effects of the legal proceedings. Moderation, finally, highlights a general principle of Australian law, that of modulation: according to it, the theoretically strict compensation for damages (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”) is either lightened – in particular, towards a moderate procedure – or, on the contrary, aggravated, depending on the social relations prevailing between both parties. This approach also makes it possible to understand how war, which in Australia is mainly, if not exclusively, of a judicial nature, derives from the feud, of which it is an unbridled modality.

L’école primaire entre l’Église et l’État : le compromis de la loi Guizot (28 juin 1833) (Catherine Audéoud)
Abstract: 

The Law Guizot represents the birth of the public primary school. For Guizot, the «government of the minds» is important: In the country of France that has been traumatized by the Revolution and the agitations of the years 1830, he wants to moralize and to educate the people. This becomes the responsibility of the State, but it is necessary that moral education, which has priority, be also religious, which accounts for the strongly encouraged collaboration between the teacher and the priest. The supervision committees established by the Law reflect this apparent symbiosis between Church and State as well as the proclamation of the freedom of education. However, the parliamentary archives show a legislative path much less smooth. The context is characterized by suspicion concerning the priest-party, so active under the Restauration and suspected to channel ideas that are hostile to the new regime. Shouldn’t the first objective of the law be to channel the power of the clergy rather than giving it a primary role?

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