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Access to Justice: Legal Aid to the Poor at Civil Law Courts in the Eighteenth-Century Low Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2014

Griet Vermeesch
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Extract

Medieval and early modern rulers commonly proclaimed that protecting the legal entitlements of the personae miserabiles, who included widows, orphans, the chronically ill and “the poor,” was among their principal duties. The entitlement of the poor to legal services was not a matter of grace but was in fact their “good right.” For example, widows, orphans, and other personae miserabili had the privilege of being heard in first instance before high courts, so as to save time and costs in pursuing their legal claims. Another example of manifest commitment to legal entitlement for the poor was the refusal of Philip II of Habsburg to consent to measures that would limit the jurisdiction of his Castilian chanceries; the measures had been proposed so as to limit the chanceries’ ever-increasing workload, but, because they could also restrict indigents' access to such courts, were rejected by the monarch. At first glance, such inclusiveness appears to have been achieved, particularly in view of the large numbers of petty conflicts brought before formal law courts during the long sixteenth century, leading to a so-called “legal revolution.” Historians generally acknowledge that broad layers of early modern society made abundant use of civil adjudication in arranging their social and economic relations and interests.

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Law and History Review , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , August 2014 , pp. 683 - 714
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Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 2014 

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61. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

62. RAL, ORA, inv.nr. 146, Rekesten tot het procederen pro deo. Register van dispositiën op requesten om brieven van voorschrijving tot het verkrijgen van akten van admissie, 1764–1811. The same procedure was followed in Amsterdam: Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Schout en schepenen, inv. nr. 943, Schepenen minuut register, 1756; and Helmers, ‘Gescheurde bedden,’ 176.

63. Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nrs. 787–889, Rekwestboeken, passim; and Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

64. Nauwelaers, Histoire des avocats, 336; and Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 123.

65. For example, the petition of Guillaume Vanden Houte to the Antwerp aldermen in 1731: Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nr. 820, Rekwestboek 1731, folio 80v–81r.

66. RAL, ORA, inv. nr. 144E, Registers van dispositiën op requesten, 1659–1810, 1758–1768; inv.nr. 146, Rekesten tot het procederen pro deo. Register van dispositiën op requesten om brieven van voorschrijving tot het verkrijgen van akten van admissie, 1764–1811. Such procedure has also been described for the city of Amsterdam: Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de familie van Lennep, inv. nr. 125, Ordonnantie op de maniere van procederen voor den Gerecht der stad Amsterdam, 1779; and Helmers, Gescheurde bedden, 176.

67. ARAB, GR, inv. nr. 552/A, Renvois en justice, 18th century; Utrechts archief, Hof van Utrecht (239-1), inv. nr. 342-a-4, Stukken betreffende de kleine rol, 1743–1792.

68. For example: ORA, RAL, inv.nr. 146, Rekesten tot het procederen pro deo. Register van dispositiën op requesten om brieven van voorschrijving tot het verkrijgen van akten van admissie, 1764–1811.

69. De Ridder-Symoens, “The Growth of Civil Society”.

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75. Helmholz, The Spirit.

76. Thus far, the personae miserabiles have not been described for the Low Countries. The author is currently preparing an article in which she assesses the social profile of litigants who sought free legal aid in Leiden in the period 1745–1811 via cross-linking the names of such parties with databases containing demographic, fiscal, and other data. This research will help to assess what sorts of people belonged to the category of personae miserabiles in eighteenth century Leiden.

77. Cerutti, Simona, “Les ‘misérables’ en droit Italien au XVIIIe siècle,” in Gens de passage en Méditerrannée de l'Antiquité à l'époque moderne. Procédures de contrôle et d'identification, ed. Moatti, Claudia and Kaiser, Wolfgang (Paris: Maisonneuve & Laroise, 2007)Google Scholar, 228.

78. RAL, ORA, inv. nrs. inv. nr. 144A–144O, Registers van dispositiën of requesten, 1659–1810; Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nrs. 787–889, Rekwestboeken 1701–1792.

79. RAL, ORA, inv. nrs. inv. nr. 144H, Registers van dispositiën of requesten, 1778–1786, fol. 59–60.

80. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

81. Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nrs. 787–889, Rekwestboeken; RAL, ORA, inv. nr. 144A-O, Dispositiën op rekwesten, 1659–1811.

82. Vermeesch, Griet, “Professional Lobbying in Eighteenth-Century Brussels: The Role of Agents in Petitioning the Central Government Institutions in the Habsburg Netherlands,” Journal of Early Modern History 16 (2012): 95–119CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Johanna Roelevink, “‘t Welck doende etcetera.' Lobby bij de Staten-Generaal in de vroege zeventiende eeuw,” Jaarboek Geschiedkundige Vereniging ‘De Haghe’ (1990): 153–67.

83. In-depth analysis of a limited number of case studies of the social position of pro deo litigants in the local community will help to test this scenario.

84. Utrechts archief, Hof van Utrecht, inv. nr. 342-a-4, Stukken betreffende de kleine rol.

85. Rijksarchief Gent, Raad van Vlaanderen, inv. nr. 7995, Staten van gerechtskosten “Pro deo et Sancto Ivone,” 1744–1761; and Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 123. The costs for the urban courts in Antwerp are mentioned in the local customs: Ordonnantie ende Verhael vanden Stijl ende Maniere van Procederen voorAmptman, Borghemeester ende Schepenen der Stadt van Antwerpen, https://www.kuleuven-kulak.be/facult/rechten/Monballyu/Rechtlagelanden/Brabantsrecht/antwerpen/style.html . (accessed 8 June 2014). On the cost of litigation at the Leiden bench of aldermen, see, Van Meeteren, Op hoop, 280.

86. Rijksarchief Gent, Raad van Vlaanderen, inv. nr. 21.077, Jan Vermeulen (Etikhove), hr. bev., c. François Devos (Munkzwalm): terugbetaling van geleend geld, 1737–1738.

87. As summarized in an Extrait du Protocole of the Privy Council in Brussels dated August 22, 1778. For Leiden, the acquittal of the costs of seals and the payment of legal spokesmen could be derived from the apostilles on consulted petitions.

88. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

89. Utrechts archief, Hof van Utrecht, inv. nr. 342-a-4, Stukken betreffende de kleine rol, 1743–1792.

90. “Décret de Charles VI ordonnant à tous magistrats, collèges de justice, secrétaires, greffiers, huissiers, d'expédier gratis les actes requis pour les procès des personnes misérables faisant partie de la clientèle de la confrérie de Saint-Ivon, à Gand, 28 novembre 1733,” in Recueil des ordonnances des Pays-Bas Autrichiens, troisième série – 1700–1794, ed. Gachard, Louis-Prosper (Brussels: Fr. Gobbaerts, 1877), 528–29.Google Scholar

91. “Costen omme Jan Vermeulen”; inv. nr. 21.077, Jan Vermeulen (Etikhove), hr. bev., c. François Devos (Munkzwalm): terugbetaling van geleend geld, 1737–1738.

92. ARAB, GR, inv. nr. 552/A, Renvois en justice, 18th century.

93. ARAB, GR, inv. nr. 552/B, Renvois en justice, 18th century.

94. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Schout en schepenen, inv. nr. 943, Schepenen minuut register, januari 1756–juli 1756, folio 194–195.

95. ARAB, GR, inv. nr. 552/B, Renvois en justice, 18th century.

96. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

97. Ibid.

98. Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nrs. 787–889, Rekwestboeken, 18th century.

99. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

100. Nauwelaers, Histoire des avocats, 339.

101. This has been described for England in Brooks, Christopher W., Pettyfoggers and Vipers of the Commonwealth. The “Lower Branch” of the Legal Profession in Early Modern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 108–11.Google Scholar

102. Cited in Gaillard, Le Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 122.

103. Cited in Gaillard, Le Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 123.

104. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

105. Schmidt, Ariadne, Overleven na de dood. Weduwen in Leiden in de Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam: Prometheus/Bert Bakker, 2001)Google Scholar, 179; Kagan, Lawsuits and Litigants, 103; Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol. 2, 31, 33–34; and Lijten, Het burgerlijk proces, 46.

106. Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 123–24.

107. Stadsarchief Brussel, Oud archief, Liasse 606, Procédure, 1699–1794.

108. Nationaal archief, Hof van Holland, inv. nr. 3140, Rekwesten om mandement.

109. Ibid.

110. Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 124.

111. Felixarchief, Privilegekamer, inv. nr. 820, Rekwestboeken, folios 92–93.

112. Felixarchief, Vierschaar, inv. nr. 1561, Furnissementboecken, 1685–1728; and Regionaal archief Leiden, Oud Rechterlijk Archief, inv. nr. 44 W, Dingboeken van grote zaken, sept. 1755-oktober 1766.

113. A search of the terms poor, widows, orphans, miserabiles, and gratis in the available online customary law of Aarschot, Asse (1569), Diest (1696–1701), Baronie Grimbergen (1606), Leuven (1622), Brussels (1570 and 1606), and Eeklo, yielded few stipulations. https://www.kuleuven-kulak.be/facult/rechten/Monballyu/Rechtlagelanden/Bronnenindex.htm (February 26, 2012).

114. “Décret de Charles VI”.

115. Rijksarchief in Anderlecht, Raad van Brabant, Archief van de Griffies, inv. nr. 5222, Consulten, 1702–1705, folio 90–91; and Gaillard, Conseil de Brabant, Vol 2, 123.

116. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de familie van Lennep, inv. nr. 125, Ordonnantie op de maniere van procederen voor den Gerecht der stad Amsterdam, 1779; and Helmers, Gescheurde bedden, 176.

117. Roelevink, “‘t Welck doende,” 163.