The House in the Rue Saint-Fiacre: A Social History of Property in Revolutionary Paris

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H. B. Callaway

The House in the Rue Saint-Fiacre

A Social History of Property in Revolutionary Paris

H. B. Callaway

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English

Harvard University Press
17 August 2023

European history; Social & cultural history; Property law

Series: Harvard Historical Studies

A bold account of property reform during the French Revolution, arguing that the lofty democratic ideals enshrined by revolutionary leaders were rarely secured in practice-with lasting consequences.

Property reform was at the heart of the French Revolution. As lawmakers proclaimed at the time, and as historians have long echoed, the revolution created modern property rights. Under the new regime, property was redefined as an individual right to which all citizens were entitled. Yet as the state seized assets and prepared them for sale, administrators quickly found that realizing the dream of democratic property rights was far more complicated than simply rewriting laws.

H. B. Callaway sifts through records on Parisian émigrés who fled the country during the revolution, leaving behind property that the state tried to confiscate. Immediately, officials faced difficult questions about what constituted property, how to prove ownership, and how to navigate the complexities of credit arrangements and family lineage. Mothers fought to protect the inheritances of their children, tenants angled to avoid rent payments, and creditors sought their dues. In attempting to execute policy, administrators regularly exercised their own judgment on the validity of claims. Their records reveal far more continuity between the Old Regime and revolutionary practices than the law proclaimed. Property ownership continued to depend on webs of connections beyond the citizen-state relationship, reinforced by customary law and inheritance traditions. The resulting property system was a product of contingent, on-the-ground negotiations as much as revolutionary law.

The House in the Rue Saint-Fiacre takes stock of the contradictions on which modern property rights were founded. As Callaway shows, the property confiscations of Parisian émigrés are a powerful, clarifying lens on the idea of ownership even as it exists today.

By: H. B. Callaway
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780674279346
ISBN 10: 0674279344
Series: Harvard Historical Studies
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 17 August 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

H. B. Callaway is Research Associate at the Centre Roland Mousnier of the Université Paris-Sorbonne.

Reviews for The House in the Rue Saint-Fiacre: A Social History of Property in Revolutionary Paris

A fascinating book. Drawing on rich case studies from contested properties in revolutionary Paris, Callaway shows in convincing detail how the ideal of the citizen property owner inescapably clashed with the role of the property owner as an actor in the marketplace. Anyone interested in the history of this tumultuous period will find much to savor in Callaway’s work. -- David A. Bell, author of Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution Conceptually bold, intensely researched, and elegantly presented, The House in the Rue Saint-Fiacre changes our understanding of how property was viewed and used during the French Revolution and beyond. Callaway deftly leverages the tools of social history to shed new light on a topic most often seen through the lens of legal or intellectual history. -- Leora Auslander, author of Cultural Revolutions An illuminating exploration of what émigré property confiscations can tell us about the complexities of French revolutionary policy as practice. Significantly, in examining conflicts over property, Callaway highlights the continued importance of family as a critical unit for the defense of assets. -- Julie Hardwick, author of Sex in an Old Regime City: Young Workers and Intimacy in France, 1660–1789 Carefully researched and compellingly written, this book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of what the French Revolution meant to both private lives and public political culture. Shining welcome light on the murky details of émigré property confiscations, Callaway chronicles how obdurate social and legal realities obliged the state to forgo the democratic promise of 1789. -- Colin Jones, author of Paris: The Biography of a City