Louis-René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais

Louis -René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais ( born March 6, 1701 Rennes, † July 12, 1785 in Rennes) was a French jurist.

Policy

La Chalotais was sixty years General of the Parliament of Brittany. He was an ardent opponent of the Jesuits. In 1761 he designed for the Parliament a memorandum on the Constitutions of the Order, the very contributed to their suppression in France. In 1763 he published the notice realize Essai d' éducation nationale, in which he proposed a program of scientific studies as a substitute for the learned of the Jesuits. In the same year, the conflict between the Estates of Brittany and the governor of the province, the Duke d'Aiguillon began. The Estates refused to agree to the extraordinary charges that had been required of Aiguillon, on behalf of the king. La Chalotais was a personal enemy Aiguillons, and as the Parliament of Brittany stood on the side of the stands, he took the lead role in his opposition. The Parliament banned by decree the levying of taxes without the consent of the estates. The king picked up these decrees, whereupon up to twelve all Members of Parliament resigned ( October 1764-May 1765 ). The government viewed La Chalotais as one of the authors of this affair.

At this time in charge of the affairs of the province of State Louis Phelypeaux received (1705-1777), two anonymous and insulting letters. La Chalotais was suspected to have written them, and three handwriting expert confirmed his authorship. Therefore, the government arrested him, his son and four other Members of Parliament. The arrest was a public scandal, and it was a lot of talk of " despotism ". Voltaire claimed that the prosecutor had been humiliated in his prison in Saint- Malo to lack of ink to write his defense with a toothpick dipped in vinegar. Apparently this was pure legend, but public opinion in France was strongly excited against the government. On November 16, 1765 a judge commission was appointed to take over the process. La Chalotais stopped the process to be illegal; as Attorney General he took claim the right to get a hearing in Parliament in Rennes, or otherwise, in the Parliament of Bordeaux, according to the customs of the province. The judges did not dare pronounce a judgment on the basis of handwriting analysis, and by the end of the year, nothing had moved.

Louis XV. then decided to become a sovereign act and took the matter to his council, who decided without further formalities, the accused to send into exile. This stopgap measure only intensified public agitation; Philosophers, members of Parliament, patriotic Bretons and Jansenists unanimously proclaimed that La Chalotais had been the victim of a personal hatred of the Duke of Aiguillon and the Jesuits. The government announced at the end after and agreed to the zurückgetrenen Members of Parliament of Brittany zurückzuberufen again. When Parliament reconvened, it demanded a formal accusation Aiguillons the recall of La Chalotais. This was granted in 1775, and La Chalotais was allowed his office to hand over his son.

In this affair, public opinion turned out to be stronger than the absolutism of the king. It contributed much to the opposition to the king's power and can be considered as a prelude to the revolution of 1789. La Chalotais, who was personally a hot-tempered, arrogant and unlikable character, died in 1785 in Rennes.