ed with the preservation of the privileges of the
University, and it was for this reason, as prescribed in the ordinance
of 1200, that he took his oath of office between the hands of the rector
of the University. In 1613, the _prevot_, Louis Seguier, refused to
observe this formality. He had under his orders a civil lieutenant
charged with the jurisdiction of civil affairs in the first hearing,
and, later, of particular civil and criminal lieutenants; these
magistrates had the direction of the police until 1667, when there was
created a _conseiller lieutenant-general_ of police. The municipal
police of Paris absorbed successively various jurisdictions which had
previously existed, and the _prevot_ administered this force in the
interests of the public order.

Nevertheless, the disorder in the municipal administration became so
great that Charles VI, by an edict dated January 27, 1411, restored to
the _bourgeois_, _manants_, and _habitants_ of his "good city of Paris"
the _prevoste des marchands et eschevinage, clergie, maison de la ville,
parlouer aux bourgeois, jurisdiction, coertion, cognoissance, rentes,
revenus, possessions quelconques, droits, honneurs, noblesses,
prerogatives, franchises, libertez et previlleges_, to have and to hold
forever, as they had done before.

[Illustration: FACADE OF THE NEW PALAIS DE JUSTICE, VIEWED FROM THE
PLACE DAUPHINE. JOSEPH-LOUIS-DUC, ARCHITECT.]

It was under this king that there was brought before the Parlement an
important case, related at length by all the chroniclers of the time,
and which may serve to illustrate the nature of the administration of
justice. A certain Norman gentleman, Jean de Carrouges, residing in the
chateau d'Argenteuil, near Alencon, having occasion to go on a journey,
left his young wife at home. One of his neighbors, Jacques Le Gris,
having heard of her beauty, presented himself at the castle and asked to
be permitted to visit the donjon. He was cordially welcomed, invited to
dinner, and the Dame de Carrouges herself conducted him to the tower.
Once there, the visitor suddenly fastened the door behind them and then
proceeded to avow his passion to the lady; indignantly repulsed, he
threw himself upon her and inflicted upon her the last of outrages.
Then, rushing down the stairs, he leaped upon his horse and effected his
escape. When the Sire de Carrouges returned, he appealed for redress to
the Comte d'Alencon, his suzerain and that of Le Gris; the co