Parlement of Paris

Though not representative bodies in the present sense of the word, they had procedures and authorities that could delay the otherwise unchecked power of the King.

The Parlement of Paris played a major role in stimulating the nobility to resist the expansion of royal power by military force in the Parliamentary Fronde, 1648–1649.

The Second Estate reacted to the essay with anger to convince the king that the nobility still served a very important role and still deserved the same privileges of tax exemption as well as for the preservation of the guilds and corporations put in place to restrict trade, both of which were eliminated in the reforms proposed by Turgot.

[4] In their remonstrance against the edict suppressing the corvée (March 1776), the Parlement of Paris—afraid that a new tax would replace the corvée, and that this tax would apply to all, introducing equality as a principle—dared to remind the king: The personal service of the clergy is to fulfill all the functions relating to education and religious observances and to contribute to the relief of the unfortunate through its alms.

The last class of the nation, which cannot render such distinguished service to the state, fulfills its obligation through taxes, industry, and physical labor.

They saw this elimination of tax privilege as the gateway for more attacks on their rights and urged Louis XVI throughout the protests of the Parlement of Paris not to enact the proposed reforms.