Labor disputes and Justices of the Peace in Paris, 1791-Year XI
Labor historiography as well as the historiography of the judiciary has paid little attention to the role of the justice of the peace in labor regulations. Yet it was given authority that led to intervening in the regulation of disputes, before and after the establishment of the industrial tribunals (tribunaux de prud’hommes. However, the limits of its scope of action were made unclear by the lack of strict definition of the categories that designated those involved as well as contractual relations, which in turn supposedly induced specific employment or wage arrangements (by-the-piece or hourly wages). Based on the analysis of a corpus of 558 disputes brought before four Parisian justices of the peace between 1791 and year XI, this article reassesses the scope of the institution on the regulation of labor relations and the reconfiguration of professional identities. The action of the Parisian judges was far from limited to petty disputes concerning the wages of domestic workers and daily salaries.
KEYWORDS
- France
- Paris
- 1791-year XI
- work
- contract
- justice of the peace
- hire of services
- hire of work