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- Publisher
- University of North Carolina Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © Southern Comparative Literature Association.
- ISSN
- 1559-0887
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
KaTie CheNoweTh The Force of a Law Derrida,Montaigne,andtheEdictofVillers-Cotterêts(1539) When the year 1539 appears on timelines of French language history, it marks the moment when king François Ier made French the official language of France by signing an edict. This law has come to be known by the name of the place where it was signed: the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts. Officially issued as the Ordonnance générale sur le fait de la justice, this edict contains 192 articles designed to enact largescale judicial and administrative reform. Its aim was to centralize and secularize political authority in the French kingdom in an unprecedented fashion. Just two articles, numbered 110 and 111, address the question of language use for which the law has become famous: 110. And so that there should be no cause to doubt whether the aforementioned legal decisions have been understood, we wish and order that they should be made and written so clearly that there neither is nor could be any room for ambiguity or uncertainty, nor cause to ask for interpretation [interpretation: interpretation or translation]. 111. And because such things have often occurred regarding the understanding of Latin words contained in legal decisions, we wish that, henceforth,
Journal
The Comparatist – University of North Carolina Press
Published: May 19, 2012