What is the boundary between public and private? Some reflections, based on the royal domain

L'Atelier du CRH

关键词: royal domain;    royal family;    boundaries;    inalienability;    limits;    royal inheritance;   

DOI  :  10.4000/acrh.12211

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In a political society where service to the king and kingdom are passed down family lines – so, where public responsibilities are hereditary, where the monarch himself is simultaneously head of State and head of a lineage but sacrifices his inheritance to run the country – the boundary between public and private is problematic, to say the least. This article uses the royal domain to analyze how theorists of power under the Ancien Régime discussed the dividing line between the public and private spheres. The domain, the inheritance of the kings of France, was originally composed of possessions of the Capetian family but ownership gradually shifted to the crown, thus making them possessions of the State. Private rights then challenged collective interest in a history deeply shaken by the accession of Henri IV to the crown and the union of his holdings with the royal domain. The ensuing enquiry by legal advisors raised issues that are active to this day, ultimately shedding light on a central aspect of political construction both before and after the French Revolution. The connection between the dynastic nature of the monarchical regime and the assertion of sovereignty leads to a tension that opens the path of modernity, but without resolving one of the major contradictions of the system, in which the respect of personal or corporate acquisitions presupposed by privilege could upset an all-powerful dedicated to the benefit of all.

【 授权许可】

Unknown