Editing Parlement (section)

===16th and 17th centuries===
Over time, some parlements, especially the one in Paris, gradually acquired the habit of using their right of remonstrance to refuse to register legislation, which they adjudged as either untimely or contrary to the local customary law (and there were 300 customary law jurisdictions), until the king held a ''[[lit de justice]]'' or sent a ''[[Letters patent|lettre de jussion]]'' to force them to act. By the 16th century, the parlement judges were of the opinion that their role included active participation in the legislative process, which brought them into increasing conflict with the ever increasing monarchical [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]] of the Ancien Régime, as the ''lit de justice'' evolved during the 16th century from a constitutional forum to a royal weapon, used to force registration of edicts.<ref>Mack P. Holt, "The King in Parliament: The Problem of the ''Lit de Justice'' in Sixteenth-Century France" ''The Historical Journal'' (September 1988) 32#3  pp:507–523.</ref> The transmission of judicial offices had also been a common practice in France since the late Middle Ages; tenure on the court was generally bought from the royal authority; and such official positions could be made hereditary by paying a tax to the King called ''la [[Paulette (tax)|paulette]]''. Assembled in the parlements, the largely hereditary members, the provincial nobles of the robe were the strongest decentralizing force in a France that was more multifarious in its legal systems, taxation, and custom than it might have seemed under the apparent unifying rule of its kings. Nevertheless, the Parlement of Paris had the largest jurisdiction of all the parlements, covering the major part of northern and central France, and was simply known as "the parlement".

====The Fronde====
The Parlement of Paris played a major role in stimulating the nobility to resist the expansion of royal power by military force during the [[Fronde]], 1648–1649. In the end, King [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] won out and the nobility was humiliated.<ref>A. Lloyd Moote. ''The Revolt of the Judges: the Parliament of Paris and the Fronde, 1643–1652'' ([[Princeton University Press]], 1971)</ref>

[[Image:Rennes - Parlement de Bretagne.jpg|thumb|The palace of the [[Parlement of Rennes|Parlement of Brittany]] in Rennes]]
The parlements' ability to withhold their assent by formulating remonstrances against the king's edicts forced the king to react, sometimes resulting in repeated resistance by the parlements, which the king could only terminate in his favour by issuing a ''lettre de jussion'', and, in case of continued resistance, appearing in person in the parlement: the ''[[lit de justice]]''. In such a case, the parlement's powers were suspended for the duration of this royal session. [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]] moved to centralize authority into his own hands, imposing certain restrictions on the parlements: in 1665, he ordained that a ''lit de justice'' could be held without the king having to appear in person; in 1667, he limited the number of remonstrances to only one. In 1671–1673, however, the parlements resisted the taxes needed to fund the [[Franco-Dutch War]]. In 1673, the king imposed additional restrictions that stripped the parlements of any influence upon new laws by ordaining that remonstrances could only be issued after registration of the edicts. After Louis' death in 1715, all the restrictions were discontinued by the regent, although some of the judges of the Parlement of Paris accepted royal bribes to restrain that body until the 1750s.<ref>John J. Hurt, ''Louis XIV and the parlements: The Assertion of Royal Authority'' (2002) pp 195–96</ref>