Journal Title

Boston College International and Comparative Law Review

Volume

13

Issue

1

First Page

1

Document Type

Article

Publication Information

1990

Abstract

Recently, Americans have been engaged in an effort to properly commemorate the bicentennial of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. If one is serious about that endeavor, it may be profitable to focus on the other bicentennial being celebrated this year in France. The early days of the French and American republics were intertwined, and it would be erroneous to think that the developments which then took place in the two countries can now fully be understood in isolation.

A number of legal aspects of the French Revolution are especially relevant to the American experience, therefore worth consideration. Among these are the terms of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens, the American contributions toward its enactment, the failure of the French to enforce the Declaration’s guarantees through an independent judiciary, and the abuses of legal procedure and governmental power which occurred during the Reign of Terror. In reflecting on the Declaration of Rights’ origin and content on the occasion of the French bicentennial, Americans can pay tribute to the struggles of the great nation and honor a small part of their own history as well.

Recommended Citation

Vincent R. Johnson, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens of 1789, the Reign of Terror, and the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris, 13 B. C. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 1 (1990).

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