Law of Suspects

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The Law of Suspects was a sweeping French Revolutionary decree that enabled the mass arrest and prosecution of perceived enemies of the Revolution during the Reign of Terror.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Law of Suspects canonical 5

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (51)

Predicate Object
instanceOf French revolutionary law
decree
emergency legislation
appliesToPeriod French Revolution
Reign of Terror
approximateEndOfUse 1794
country France
dateEnacted 1793-09-17
definedCategory emigrés and their relatives
enemies of liberty
former nobles not demonstrating attachment to the Revolution
officials dismissed or suspended from public functions
persons denied civic certificates of good citizenship
persons who could not justify their means of existence
persons who had shown themselves partisans of tyranny
suspects
enforcementBody Committee of Public Safety
surface form: Committee of General Security

Committee of Public Safety
local revolutionary committees
historicalConsequence contributed to climate of fear and denunciation
contributed to the Reign of Terror
enabled large-scale political purges
increased number of political prisoners
undermined rule of law in revolutionary France
ideologicalBasis defense of the Revolution
popular sovereignty
revolutionary vigilance
language French
legalEffect authorized mass arrests
enabled preventive detention
expanded definition of political crime
facilitated use of Revolutionary Tribunal
weakened legal protections for the accused
legislativeBody National Convention
politicalContext radicalization of the French Revolution
politicalFactionSupport Montagnards
primaryPurpose enable arrest of suspected counter-revolutionaries
identify enemies of the Revolution
strengthen revolutionary government security
relatedConcept extraordinary justice
political repression
state terror
relatedInstitution Revolutionary Tribunal
Committee of Public Safety
surface form: revolutionary committees of surveillance
relatedLegislation Law of 22 Prairial
Law of the Maximum
targetedGroup clergy
nobility
perceived counter-revolutionaries
suspected federalists
suspected royalists

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Montagnards supportedPolicy Law of Suspects
Reign of Terror legalBasis Law of Suspects
French National Convention implemented Law of Suspects
The Mountain supportedPolicy Law of Suspects
The Terror legalBasis Law of Suspects