Parlement

A parlement was a provincial appellate court in Ancien Régime France. In 1789 there were 13 parlements, the most important of which was by far the Parlement of Paris. They were not legislative bodies, but rather provincial high courts which heard appeals from the lower courts of record. Each was composed of a dozen or more appellate judges, or about 1,100 nationwide. They were the court of final appeal of the judicial system, and typically wielded much power over a wide range of subject matter, especially taxation. Laws and edicts issued by the Crown were not official in their respective jurisdictions until the parlements gave their assent by publishing them. The members were aristocrats called nobles of the gown who had bought or inherited their office, and were independent of the King.