《旧制度与大革命·卷三·第三章·法国高等法院如何循着旧例反而倾覆了王权》第1节
The feudal Government, whose ruins still sheltered the nation, had been a government in which arbitrary power, violence, and great freedom were commingled. Under its laws, if actions had often been restricted, speech was habitually independent and bold. The legislative power was exercised by kings, but never without control. When the great political assemblies of France ceased to be, the Parliaments took, in some sort, the place of them; and before they enregistered in the code that regulated their judicial proceedings a new law decreed by the King, they stated to the sovereign their objections, and made known to him their opinions. Much inquiry has been made as to the first origin of this usurpation of legislative power by judicial authority. It is vain to seek that origin elsewhere than in the general manners of the time, which could not tolerate, or even conceive, a power so absolute and secret, as not, at least, to admit of discussion on the terms of obedience. The institution was in nowise premeditated. It sprang spontaneously from the very root of the ideas then prevalent and from the usages alike of subjects and of kings. An edict, before it was put in force, was sent down to the Parliament. The agents of the Crown explained its principles and its merits; the magistrates discussed it. All this was done in public, in open debate, with that virility which characterised all the institutions of the Middle Ages. It frequently happened that the Parliament sent deputies to the King, several times over, to supplicate him to modify or withdraw an edict. If the King came down in person, he allowed his own law to be debated with vivacity, sometimes with violence, in his presence. But when at last his will was made known, all was silence and obedience: for the magistracy acknowledged that they were no more than the first officers and representatives of the sovereign; their duty was to advise but not to coerce him. In 1787, the ancient precedents of the monarchy were faithfully and strictly followed. The old machine of Royal government was again set in motion: but it became apparent that the machine was propelled by some new motive power of an unknown kind, which, instead of causing it to move onwards, was about to break it in pieces.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段开篇就抛出一个看似悖论的判断：封建政府既是专断与暴力的，又容纳了相当程度的自由。他所说的封建政府，指的是法国大革命前那个已经被侵蚀却依然庇护着整个民族的旧制度。专断权力与暴力无处不在，但言论却习惯性地独立而大胆——这一点对理解高等法院后来的角色至关重要。行动可以被限制，嘴巴却很难被完全封住，这种中世纪的遗产为司法机构染指立法功能提供了土壤。…