As French political thought became decidedly more absolutist in tone during Louis XIV's reign, Dijon's avocats displayed a more traditional, constitutionalist view of the king as a “judicial monarch.” Though accepting such commonplace absolutist notions as “le mort saisit le vif,” “qui veut le roi, si veut la loi,” and “le roi est empereur en son royaume,” Dijon's avocats also called attention to the independent development of regional laws and institutions. They described these things as expressions of Burgundy's “natural law,” thereby placing them beyond the royal prerogative. They also called attention to the contractual relationship between king and province, again limiting the monarch's ability to alter regional laws, institutions, and practices unilaterally. Finally, Dijon's avocats also described the king not in Bossuet's terms, as “the image of God” whose will was the sole source of order and peace, but rather as a feudal lord whose role was to maintain the complex balance of devolved authorities that made up the French state.

This chapter will begin by examining the intellectual world of Dijon's avocats and other legal professionals during the late seventeenth century. Next, it will analyze the significance of the rapid expansion in the number of commentaries on Burgundian custom and other areas of private law in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It will then show how the avocats' enduring belief in the limited scope of legitimate royal authority was tied to their attitudes about the right of worthy individuals to participate in local governance.