Femmes du peuple dans les archives judiciaires

Legal archives have been used to study women's trials in South-Eastern France. These sources show why women were sent to court and make it possible to examine Enlightenment justice's attitude towards them. Plebeian women shared the everyday and banal violence of the popular classes in which insults and blows were exchanged in the street, the scene of many a conflict. Violent action allowed women to express themselves in the public arena, both individually and collectively. If there is little difference between male and female behaviour for such petty violence, in more serious cases, aggressiveness is generally masculine and women are the victims. Women accused of scandalous and lubricious living can be considered as a separate category. Condemnation of such women, often living alone, having broken off social and family relations, show that repressive measures seem to be reinforced during a century traditionally seen as a period of slackening of moral standards.Lambert Karine, Lapied Martine. Femmes du peuple dans les archives judiciaires. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°36, 2004. Femmes des Lumières, sous la direction de Sylvain Menant . pp. 155-170