Over the course of the eighteenth century seigneurial justice changed both for the better and for the worse in northern Burgundy. On the one hand, administrators, magistrates, and judges agreed that it was important to simplify procedure for minor cases. They set in motion procedural reforms that allowed ordinary people to have their cases tried quickly and cheaply. They also strengthened and formalized the system of judicial checks that already existed and worked to ensure that judges remained in close contact with the villages. On the other hand, seigneurial justice became increasingly important in the administration and enforcement of the seigneurie and allowed absentee lords to ensure that their estates, rights, and dues were protected better than they had ever been before.

How did ordinary people react to these two changes in the way they experienced contact with the institution of seigneurial justice? To what extent were they aware of the changes that had been put in place? In 1789, at the end of a long period during which justice and seigneurial domination were inextricably linked, what were ordinary people thinking about seigneurial justice? I have already both illustrated the important ways the local seigneurial court influenced daily life and demonstrated that voluntary recourse to the court's authority was commonplace. I have argued that most ordinary people did not resent, hate, or fear seigneurial justice. Parish cahiers de doléances from 1789, however, allow us to see much more directly what ordinary people appreciated or disliked about the institution.