The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France (review)

An event that initiated profound political, social, and cultural change, the French Revolution is one of the most studied, and debated, movements in world history. One debate revolves around the Revolution's impact on women and gender norms. For twenty years, the scholarly consensus has been that the Revolution helped to usher in nineteenth-century domesticity by explicitly banning women from political involvement and by emphasizing women's nurturing roles in the family. In this interpretation, the exclusion of women from politics was intrinsic to republican ideology. Desan's examination of familial legislation and resulting court cases from 1789 to the creation of the Civil Code in 1804 rescues republicanism from this accusation, placing the blame instead on the post-Thermidorian quest for social stability cemented into law under Napoleon.

A deeply researched and ambitious book, The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France blends legal history, the social history of the family, and the cultural history of politics. It also combines a local study of legal cases in one part of Normandy with analysis of the pamphlets, petitions, and legislative debates that emerged around familial issues on a national scale. The result is a convincing and rich exploration of the changing legal terrain of the period, as well as of the various ways people interpreted and exploited the new laws to accomplish their goals—from divorce, to the recognition of an illegitimate child, to inheritance matters.

The book is organized into eight thematic chapters. It begins with an examination of pamphlets, petitions, and speeches critiquing marriage between 1789 and 1792. The second chapter focuses on how Revolutionary legislators viewed marriage as a potent tool for remaking French society and citizens. The next four chapters deal with specific familial issues and their treatment in court cases and legislation: divorce (made legal in 1792), inheritance, illegitimacy and unwed motherhood, and paternity. The final two chapters show how the backlash against the social and political experimentation of the Revolution's early years led to a more conservative outlook on the family. Chapter 7, on the period from 1795 to 1799, focuses on a rhetorical shift from an emphasis on the natural rights of the individual (as had been the case from 1789 to 1793) toward an emphasis on the importance of maintaining social, familial, and sexual order. This rhetorical shift was then codified and put into practice under Napoleon. The creation of his Civil Code is the subject of Desan's final chapter.

The most impressive aspect of this insightful and important study is its ability to highlight how practices shaped national legislation. Desan is able to accomplish this feat thanks to her various methods and sources. Her four chapters based on judicial records from Normandy provide rich information about how ordinary people interpreted Revolutionary legislation on the family, and her examination of legislative debates shows how court cases, petitions, pamphlets, and speeches influenced legislators. The give and take between national politics and local practices and solutions comes across with great clarity. The other important contribution of the book is its emphasis on the family, not simply as a institution that was touched by the Revolution but as "a crucial arena for working out the practical meaning of the most fundamental revolutionary goals" (311). This book proves beyond any doubt that remaking the family lay at the very heart of the revolutionary project.