Page 121 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

6 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The Theory Behind Absolutism

The following text extract is from Jean Domat’s (1625– It is in this principle that we must seek the origin
1696) Public Law. Domat was a French jurist who of the rules that determine the duties, both of those
devoted his career to creating and setting forth a broad who govern and of those who are subject to govern-
basis for the absolutism of French king Louis XIV. ment. For it is through the place God has assigned
each person in the body of society, that He, by call-
There is no one who is not convinced of the impor-
ing him to it, prescribes all his functions and duties.
tance of good order in the state and who does not sin-
And just as He commands everyone to obey faithfully
cerely wish to see that state well ordered in which he
the precepts of His law that make up the duties of all
has to live. For everyone understands, and feels in
people in general, so He prescribes for each one in
himself by experience and by reason, that this order
particular the duties proper to his condition and sta-
concerns and touches him in a number of ways . . .
tus, according to his rank in the body of which he is
Everyone knows that human society forms a body
a member. This includes the functions and duties of
of which each person is a member; and this truth,
each member with respect to other individuals and
which Scripture teaches us and which the light of rea-
with respect to the body as a whole.
son makes plain, is the foundation of all the duties
Source: Domat, J. (1829). Le droit public, suite des lois civiles dans leur ordre naturel vol.
that relate to the conduct of each person toward oth- 3. Oeuvres completes, nouvelle edition revue corrigée [The public right, following civil laws
ers and toward the body as a whole. For these sorts in their natural order vol. 3. Complete works, new rev. corrected ed.] (pp. 1-2) (J. Remy,
Ed.). Paris: Firmin-Didot.
of duties are nothing else but the functions appropri-
ate to the place each person holds according to his
rank in society.

for funding this largesse fell hardest upon the poor with from royal graft and bureaucratic inertia; they were no
regressive tariffs and sales taxes. In France especially, match globally against more entrepreneurial English and
nobles and clergy were exempted from most taxes, largely Dutch freelancers. Adam Smith’s caricature of mercan-
to gain their loyalty and their indifference to royal spend- tilists as craven incompetents was not far from the truth.
thrifts. From a global perspective, however, the most put-
upon taxpayers living in an absolute state lived in Limited Monarchies in
Tokugawa Japan, where peasants paid almost one-half the Seventeenth Century
their incomes in taxes. At least three of the major exceptions to absolutist rule in
While raising taxes on the poor to pay for the loyalty Europe prospered largely because their rulers still had
and comfort of the well-connected, monarchs limited the more limited executive power.While Poland did not last
wealth of their nations.This was acutely true of the Euro- long because it lacked a strong central government and
pean variety of absolutism. Louis XIV left France desti- was partitioned into extinction by absolute monarchies
tute, despite the fact that it was the most populous by 1795, the Dutch Republic, England, and Scotland
country in Europe. His legacy of national indebtedness prided themselves on being both Protestant and relatively
would grow into the nightmare that set the stage for the free of absolutism. After winning its long struggle for
Revolution. Under the mercantilism of the financier and independence against Habsburg Spain in 1648, the
statesman Jean-Baptiste Colbert, wealth was supposed to Dutch Republic generated wealth that was put back into
trickle down through the Sun King and his favored business and not back into a voracious, bloated bureau-
monopolies, particularly a domestic silk industry, to the cracy.The kings of England and Scotland tried to become
common people. Unfortunately for him and his realm, absolute during the seventeenth century, but their
Louis was as bad a businessman as he was a commander attempts failed, with one king beheaded in 1649 and one
in chief. His protected industries were not protected of his sons essentially fired by Parliament in 1688. Eng-