19th Century

Transcription (Partial – normalized) Le huit février mil huit cent dix Requête de Gilbert Caulon, notaire habitant à la ville de Périgueux… … contre Dominique Côté Perrot fermier dit des Brossats… … pour paiement de neuf livres résultant d’une sentence du tribunal… payable le trois mars mil huit cent huit terme devenu neuf septembre suivant… copie délivrée pour servir et valoir ce que de droit. English Translation (Summary) February 8, 1810. Petition of Gilbert Caulon, notary residing in the city of Périgueux. The petition concerns a claim against Dominique Côté Perrot, farmer known as “des Brossats.” The matter relates to payment of nine livres resulting from a judgment issued by the tribunal. The sum was originally due on March 3, 1808, with a subsequent term on September 9 of the same year. This copy is issued for legal use and enforcement.

This document reflects the judicial and bureaucratic systems of Napoleonic France, when the legal system was undergoing major transformation following the reforms of the French Revolution and the implementation of the Napoleonic Code. The presence of the Empire Français fiscal stamp indicates the document was produced on government-issued stamped paper required for legal filings and administrative acts. Such stamps functioned both as authentication and as a tax mechanism. Petitions of this type were commonly submitted by notaries or legal representatives to initiate or enforce financial claims. They demonstrate the increasing formalization of legal processes during the early nineteenth century as France transitioned from the structures of the Ancien Régime to the centralized Napoleonic administrative state.

Description

This manuscript legal petition dated 8 February 1810 was prepared on officially stamped paper during the Napoleonic Empire. The document records a financial claim brought by Gilbert Caulon, a notary residing in Périgueux, concerning the recovery of a debt resulting from a previous court judgment. The paper bears a fiscal stamp reading “Empire Français – 25 centimes,” a type issued under the government of Napoleon Bonaparte as part of the centralized taxation and administrative reforms introduced in the early nineteenth century. Such stamped papers were required for many legal documents, including petitions, contracts, and court filings. Documents like this illustrate the increasingly bureaucratic nature of legal practice in Napoleonic France, where standardized forms, fiscal stamps, and formal petitions became central to the administration of justice. The manuscript provides a small but revealing example of everyday legal disputes and financial obligations during a period of profound political and legal transformation.