The right to public assistance in the French Constitutions of 1791 and 1793

Authors

  • Pablo Scotto Universidad de Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17811/hc.v0i21.653

Keywords:

public assistance, freedom to work, duty to work, French Revolution, rights of man and of the citizen, right to existence

Abstract

 

The Constitutions of 1791 and 1793 understand public assistance as aid focused on fallen citizens, whether able-bodied or disabled. Both constitutional texts are ambiguous about the extent of the assistance the able-bodied unemployed deserve. This assistance is inseparable from the new importance given to freedom to work at that time. First of all, individuals have the right and the duty to earn a living through work. Only in case of proven need do they have the right to public assistance, again coupled with the duty to work. Facing this combination of freedom to compete and assistance to the needy, there arises a revolutionary discourse that places the guarantee of the universal right to existence before the accumulations of property.

Enviado el (Submission Date): 06/04/2020

Aceptado el (Acceptance Date):  2/05/2020

Author Biography

Pablo Scotto, Universidad de Barcelona

Departamento de Ciencia Política, Derecho Constitucional y Filosofía del Derecho

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Published

2020-04-19

Issue

No. 21 (2020): Historia Constitucional N. 21 (2020)

Section

Europe

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