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.
Full Product Details
Author: Paul Friedland (Cornell University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.70cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.494kg
ISBN: 9780198715993
ISBN 10: 0198715994
Pages: 346
Publication Date: 03 July 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Seeing Justice Done would be a worthwhile addition to any academic law library or other library seeking to enhance its legal history collection and to provide its users with a unique and educational book selection ... It is highly recommended. Susan Gualtier, Law Library Journal. Volume 105:3. Highly recommended. Choice Reviews This thoughtful and thought-provoking book is filled with interesting, arcane information. The argument is clear and the research admirable. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Paul Friedland's book provides a scholarly, coherent and lucid analysis of legal change, social attitudes and the mechanics of crime and punishment in France during the late middle ages and the early modern period, focusing on capital punishment. Hugh Gough, English Historical Review 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
Seeing Justice Done would be a worthwhile addition to any academic law library or other library seeking to enhance its legal history collection and to provide its users with a unique and educational book selection ... It is highly recommended. Susan Gualtier, Law Library Journal. Volume 105:3. Highly recommended. Choice Reviews This thoughtful and thought-provoking book is filled with interesting, arcane information. The argument is clear and the research admirable. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Paul Friedland's book provides a scholarly, coherent and lucid analysis of legal change, social attitudes and the mechanics of crime and punishment in France during the late middle ages and the early modern period, focusing on capital punishment. Hugh Gough, English Historical Review
This thoughtful and thought-provoking book is filled with interesting, arcane information. The argument is clear and the research admirable. --The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Seeing Justice Done would be a worthwhile addition to any academic law library or other library seeking to enhance its legal history collection and to provide its users with a unique and educational book selection ... It is highly recommended. --Susan Gualtier, Law Library Journal. Volume105:3 Highly recommended. --CHOICE
Seeing Justice Done would be a worthwhile addition to any academic law library or other library seeking to enhance its legal history collection and to provide its users with a unique and educational book selection ... It is highly recommended. Susan Gualtier, Law Library Journal. Volume 105:3. Highly recommended. Choice Reviews This thoughtful and thought-provoking book is filled with interesting, arcane information. The argument is clear and the research admirable. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Author Information
Paul Friedland is an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He is currently a fellow of the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University (2011-2012). 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.
