Alpha Book

It
has been estimated that 50,000 bourgeois families possessed such
judicial offices: they formed a sort of lower nobility, exempted from
certain taxes and very proud of their honors. Naturally envious were
his neighbors when the "councilor" appeared in his grand wig and his
enormous robe of silk and velvet, attended by a page who kept the robe
from trailing in the dust. No wonder these bourgeois judges were called
"the nobility of the robe."
In some way or other the "noble of the robe" had to compensate himself
for the price of his office and the cost of his robe. One bought an
office for profit as well as for honor. For to the judge were paid the
court fees and fines; and no shrewd judge would let a case pass him
without exacting some kind of a fee. Even more profitable were the
indirect gains. If Monsieur A had gained his case in court, it was
quite to be expected that in his joy Monsieur A would make a handsome
present to the judge who had given the decision. At least, that is the
way the judge would have put it.


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