Seventeenth-century opposition politics made public law into a weapon against the police state

Evidence

In France, for example, it is members of the parlements, protestants, and the nobility who take up the historical-juridical aspect. In England it is the bourgeoisie against the absolute monarchy of the Stuarts, and religious dissidents from the start of the seventeenth century. In short, the opposition always malces a legal objection to ra£Son d’Etat and consequently uses juridical reflection, ~egal rules, and legal authority against it. In a word, let’s say that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries public law is oppositional,* although it is true that some theorists favorable towards royal power tookup the problem and tried to integrate questions oflaw; legal questioning, within ra£Son d’Etat and its justification. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 175

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Law-and-order policy created the police violence it is blamed for — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1114; Law and truth disguise the historical violence that produced them — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 73

Broader Connections

• Law-and-order policy created the police violence it is blamed for #corroborates (0.78) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1114
• Law and truth disguise the historical violence that produced them #corroborates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 73