LEGAL REGULATION OF NAVAL FORCES’ ACTIVITIES IN FRANCE OF ХVІІ–ХVІІІ CENTURIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/klj/2022.4.1Keywords:
naval forces, fleet history, naval law, naval doctrine, statutory relationsAbstract
The article is devoted to the characteristics of the mechanisms, sources, prerequisites and consequences of the development of naval statutory law in the New Times on the example of Royal France. The author proved that the main specificity of these mechanisms was the maximum bureaucratization of relations, typical of continental absolute monarchies, according to which key decisions on the status and development, financial and personnel policy of the French Royal Fleet were formed and implemented not by the sovereign or by Admiral of France, but in the secretariat of the State Maritime Department. which operated since 1670. At the same time, the author pointed out the significant influence on the relevant relations of the vestiges of the feudal system, which were reflected in the mechanisms of formation and service of the officer corps, as well as in the activities of marine prevos, who inherited their functionality, both law enforcement, punitive and quasi-judicial, from similar employees of the royal army of the Middle Ages. It is noted that the regulation of the activities of the French Royal Fleet, in contrast to the British, is based on the close connection of squadrons and ships with specific arsenals and naval bases, and at the same time on the existing system of control over the activities of the fleet by civilian officials of the marine department. This led to the decisive role of quartermasters, commissioners and commandants of ports in solving any naval issues. It is noted that in terms of minor disciplinary punishments, the French Royal Fleet of the specified period depended entirely on the discretion of ship commanders, and these punishments concerned only the rank-and-file and were primarily corporal. At the same time, in terms of criminal punishments for sailors, there were corresponding rather archaic procedures, which, although they gradually moved away from the “prevo court”, did not have the character of a full-fledged judicial process and, in terms of legal settlement, were significantly inferior to British standards. At the same time, the mass use of torture against accused and even convicted sailors contrasted with the practical impossibility of bringing naval officers to legal responsibility for truly dangerous acts.
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