«In Fact all you Need is to Have Eyes to Know [...] the Places». The Territoriality in the Enclosure of the Palace of Paris in the 18th century

Between 1674 and 1712, officers of the bailiwick of the Palace and those of the Châtelet confronted one another to exert their authority over the occidental part of the Palais of Paris. To this end, they sought the definition of the territorial identity of the Cour Neuve and the Salle Neuve, as well as the delimitation of the territorial jurisdiction of the palatial enclosure. This conflict stemmed from the assertion of a new spatiality of the Palace as the outcome of the administrative and urban transformations led by the first Bourbon kings. This article questions the way in which, in the 18th century and at a fine scale, a conflictual territoriality appeared between various actors of the French capital. The rivalries between the bailiwick of the Palais and the Châtelet give rise to a singular observation of the Parisian space and to a set of topographic and architectural descriptions. The opposition between the jurisdictions translates into the redaction of legal briefs that are so many “city readings” (Marcel Roncayolo) implementing a theory and a practice of the police at once. Micro territorial agents control the identity of individuals.

Keywords: Territoriality, Early Modern History, Justice, Judicial Jurisdiction, Institutional Conflicts.

Adrien Pitor, «Il ne faut en effet avoir que des yeux pour connoistre [,,] les lieux». La territorialité dans l’enclos du Palais de Paris au XVIIIe siècle in "STORIA URBANA " 175/2023, pp 39-64, DOI: 10.3280/SU2023-175003