History Of Civil Status In France

The history of civil status in France is rooted in the practices of the Catholic Church , although it has truly been established with the Decree of 20 September 1792.

Before the introduction of civil status, identification of persons is governed mainly by the "interpersonal recognition," based on the perception of faces. Oral recognition is then facilitated by a moderate increase in population and inbreeding rates high. Conversely, the Martin Guerre case , decided by the Parliament of Toulouse in 1560, shows the difficulty of identifying individuals reliably in the absence of written documents.

Individuals are provided with a name (often the baptismal name of St. corresponds to their birthday) that appears in France in the ^twelfth century .

The oldest record is kept of Givry , Sane-et-Loire, dating back to the year 1303 . For cons, the records of the army are better kept: in 1716, the monarchy created "checks with the troops alert" to fight especially against deserters who re-enlist in order to reach a new premium mobilization . Prepared by the Attorney General of the Parliament of Paris , Guillaume-Franois Joly de Fleury , Associate Chancellor Henry Francis of Aguesseau , this statement including the requirement prescribed for the priest, the appearing and witnesses to sign, affix a cross at the bottom of the act or state could not sign that will soon be transcribed. This text also details the different information to be recorded in writing at the time of baptism , of marriage and burial , and emphasizes the obligation to register the undulations (Simplified rite of baptism we are doing in case of danger of death) for children born dead . Moreover, in the case of a death by violent death , burial can take place only on the order of a Criminal Justice . Finally, those who are denied a religious burial will be buried after an order of the local court . The regular clergy is subject to the same rules as the whole society, as well as general hospitals . "In total, says V. Denis, the statement of April 9, 1736 form a very complete text, which goes far beyond mere record keeping: resolving most operations (details of marriages), registration in the extract by through the reformation and deposit records, it's a real little code on the "state of citizens" in the words of Joly de Fleury . Gradually the royal justice becomes "the only guarantor of the legal status of individuals" .

Until the 1730s, the discovery of the causes of death in cases of violent death, however, is one of the priorities of the functions of officers of law enforcement ( gendarmerie , Lieutenant General of Police , etc..) governed by the particular criminal ordinance of 1670 (Title XXII) . The declaration of 1736 strengthens these provisions. In Paris , the anonymous dead are sent to the morgue (the "low-jail" of great Chatelet ) to undergo tests medical. If the body is not recognized or claimed, it is then sent to the nuns of the Hospital of St. Catherine , who inhument the cemetery of the Innocents. The deposition of the corpse Chtelet is mentioned by a decision of the provost of Paris from September 1, 1734, which combines for the first time the lower the Chatelet prison in the identification of corpses . Architectural innovations will then be made when they moved in 1804 and under the orders of the prefect of police Dubois , the morgue Quai du March Neuf.

Protestants are launching a campaign to 1750 , with the aim to recognize the reality of civil Huguenots , which involves Turgot.

In subsequent years, this demand is taken up by Malesherbes , Claude Carloman of Rulhiere , Rabaut Saint-Etienne , who get to Louis XVI on 19 November 1787 , the edict on the civil status of non-Catholics, " edict tolerance '(edict that the use of the name is a misnomer because it does not recognize freedom of conscience nor that of worship). Priests are asked to register their books on births, marriages and deaths of the Protestant, Jewish and atheist. Parliament is reluctant to register the royal edict and the convocation of a solemn reprimand the king, asking him to rescind his edict.

The Edict of Versailles , signed by Louis XVI in 1787 , allows non- Catholics to qualify for the marital status without having to convert (or pretend) to Catholicism. The main question are Protestants (the Jews were not subjects of the king of France).

Marital status in the nineteenth ^century

June 17, 1796 Vital is taxed in the French departments located in Belgium. However, a report of 1820, during the Restoration , shows that the records are not kept properly, the law of 1792 was slow to be effectively applied . The records are prey to errors, but also arrangements (they can be backdated, etc..) Or even deliberate falsifications (arson registry, or falsification of the act itself: a report of the year XIII finds that "changes of names boys names girls (...), the falsification of dates of birth and marriage, and the holding of marriages between boys clothes disguises and names" .

Although the law makes itself felt in some localities, at the end of the First Empire , the weak enforcement of 1792 due to several reasons:

• First, divide the city - countryside : the rural world, the relations of personal knowledge are sufficient in the eyes of citizens, to provide for identification, which seems superfluous. In addition, local elected officials misunderstand bureaucratic guidelines , in addition, although tensions subside after the Concordat of 1801 , some priests refuse to pass the administration parish registers, while anchoring religious traditions convince many farmers of the futility of such administrative .
• Then, a regional and cultural divide: the French language is far from spreading throughout the country, in regard to Jews in some regions, they have no tradition of Christian surnames, making the complicated procedure, especially since the decree of 1792 was legislated by standardizing the use of full names . A decree of July 20, 1808 gives a period of four months to get the Jews to establish their status, under penalty of banishment. The ancestors of the Jewish linguist Michel Breal up and his name by drawing out five letters . Most families with the support of religious Jews, then select name as their nickname to use .

The law of deportation policy of June 8, 1850 abolished the civil death for political prisoners in exile (replaced by civic degradation ), before that it was not finally abolished by Act of May 31, 1854 . The Duc de Polignac had been condemned by the House of Lords to civil death, following the Three Glorious Days of 1830.

Following the fire at the Hotel de Ville and the Palais de Justice in Paris during the Commune in 1871 , the Third Republic established the family book that became widespread in France since 1884. In Algeria , the Act of March 23, 1882 created the Algerian civil status, after several unsuccessful attempts (1854 and 1873 ).

Marital status in the twentieth ^century

Marital status is perfected in 1897 with the carry margin (marginal note) of the birth of the conditions of marriage or divorce, and in 1922 with the introduction of the date and place of birth parents in acts of childbirth, and since 1945 , dates and places of death and other changes in marital status are transcribed as a marginal note of the birth certificate.

Following decolonization , the Central Civil Service , depending on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , was established in 1965 . Based in Nantes , he is responsible for the civil status of French nationals born abroad or in the former colonies , and collection and transcription of all civil acts made by the French abroad. The Act of 26 November 2003 on the control of immigration, the stay of foreigners in France and nationality (known as " Sarkozy Law ") amended Article 47 of the Civil Code regarding civil status acts carried out abroad, severely limiting the presumption of good faith that they were committed since the law of 1803 .

In 1992, the State Council authorized the transsexuals to change their name after a medical course in which they completely change their sex (this is not allowed for the transgendered who live between two sexes). The first case concerning transsexuals had been sparked by postwar Beetle , a cabaret artist.

The 1993 reform allows for inclusion on the registers of civil status " dead children ", when the child died before the declaration of birth.

The law on the family name of 2005 allows children born after 1 January 2005 to carry the surname of the mother or the father, or both.

A decree of 2005 also included the entry in the file of wanted persons (FPR) of those found without identity Vital: corpse unidentified amnesiac , Newborn .

The gradual introduction of biometric passports ( decree of May 4, 2008 ) raises difficulties vital because, in addition to concerns over civil liberties , it requires obtaining a full copy of birth certificate , this poses a difficult problem for those taken without the knowledge or people born under X

References

Bibliography

• Noiriel Gerard , "The identification of citizens. Birth Vital Republican, " Genesis. Social Science and History , No. 1, 1993 (Article reprinted in G. Noiriel, state, nation and immigration. Towards a history of power, Paris, Belin, Collection "Socio-Stories", 2001). See also
  • In re Martin Guerre (XVI ^century)
  • State in France
  • Statement on Vital (XX ^century)
  • Behalf of individuals under French law
  • text of the declaration of April 9, 1736
  • Parish registers and civil status in Paris

  External Links

  • (En) Genealogy in France, the Caribbean and Quebec (information on church records and the history of civil status in France and Quebec in the Association's website Frontenac-Amriques)

  
  

  The marital status and his actions in France
  General	Vital France Statement on Vital registrar History of civil status in France
  Birth	Birth certificate Declaration of birth Act of lifeless child
  Family	Marriage Family Book Name Recognition of paternity
  Deaths	Finding Death Death certificate

  • Portal History
  • France portal
  • Genealogy Portal

Leave a Reply