LETTRES DE CACHET are really lettres closes, that is, letters sealed in such a way that they cannot be opened without breaking the seal, and which were originally always addressed to individuals, in contradistinction to lettres patentes, or letters patent, beginning “know all men by these presents.” Lettres closes interfering with the administration of justice or the liberty of the subject were forbidden by numerous edicts in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and the term lettres de cachet, as synonymous with lettres closes, is first found in the ordinance of Orleans in 1560. The convenience of such a means to consign one’s enemies to prison was seen by Richelieu and Mazarin, who followed the Guise Government in using them frequently, despite numerous protestations on the part of the parlements, of which the most notable was when in 1648 an ordinance was registered that no man should be kept in prison three days without interrogation. When once Louis XIV. had begun to rule, he made frequent use of lettres de cachet both for state purposes and to control and disorganize his nobility, and he boldly justified their use in an edict of 1705. But the most marked justification is to be found in the circular letter addressed to the parlements of France in reply to protests against arbitrary imprisonment in 1759, in which the king says that “he reserves arbitrary orders—in other words, lettres de cachet —for occasions wherein they may be necessary for the public good and the interests of families.” In this remark he distinguishes between the two purposes for which such letters were granted. He first alleges state reasons why he should have power to arrest arbitrarily—a power no one would deny to the executive on occasions of emergency, if used under proper ...