Background:
Has the judiciary, the pillar of our modern democracy, always been the guarantor of democracy? And beyond a condemnation in principle, can justice really judge history?
Examining the dark periods of our modern history, this session will explain how the judicial institutions - but also the men who made up these institutions - functioned when democracy, the very meaning of our modern history, was threatened. Through allegiance, resistance or compromise, this session will examine, the better to understand our judicial culture, these periods of history which set up an ideal of justice against the very men who were supposed to embody justice.
Course teaching method:
From revolutionary courts to specialised courts, from the Vichy regime to the Algerian war, this historical session will provide an introduction, through speeches and round tables, to the wounds of our judicial history and will be completed by placing this history in the context of the main European countries.
Finally, the session will close with a reflection on the relationship between the historian and the judge.