Law of 22 Prairial

The Law of 22 Glorious First ( Prairialgesetz, terror Act) was a law which should facilitate and accelerate the conviction and execution of enemies of the revolution. It led the heyday of Terror in the French Revolution.

The law was presented on June 10, 1794 ( 22 Prairial II according to the French Revolutionary Calendar ) by Georges Couthon the National Convention and adopted by excited debate without restriction. It regulated the jurisdiction, the structure and staffing of the Revolutionary Tribunal, the course of the procedure and defined the term " enemy of the people " (Art. 5 and 6). Who could be described as such - and because of the stretchable statutory declaration, the term was almost always possible - had to be punished with death, because the judgments of the Revolutionary Tribunal were only allowed to acquittal or death are ( Art. 7). The Act abolished the ability of the accused from approaching a defender to use ( Article 16), simplified the taking of evidence and the requirements for the conviction of the guilt of the accused - "moral evidence" sufficient for conviction ( Article 8). In addition, all citizens (Article 9) were obliged to denounce " conspirators and counter- revolutionaries " to the authorities.

The law was designed by Maximilien de Robespierre alone, the Couthon a faithful helper is then been in enforcement. In the seven weeks of his application were guillotined in Paris in 1376 people, more than in the entire 14 months before that. After the execution of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II (27 July 1794) it was abolished.