Lettres de Cachet,

Lettres de Cachet, the name given to the famous warrants of imprisonment issued by the kings of France before the Revolution. All royal letters (lettres royaux) were either lettres patentes or lettres de cachet. The former were open, signed by the king, and countersigned by a minister, and had the great seal of state appended. Of this kind were all ordinances, grants of privilege, &c. But these checks on arbitrary power did not exist with regard to lettres de cachet, also called lettres closes, or sealed letters, which were folded up and sealed with the king's little seal (cachet), and by which the royal pleasure was made known to individuals or to corporations and the administration of justice was often interfered with. The use of lettres de cachet became much more frequent after the accession of Louis XIV. than it had been before, and it was very common for persons to be arrested upon such warrant, and clapped into the Bastille (q.v.) or some other state-prison; where some of them remained for a very long time, and some for life, either because it was so intended, or, in other cases, because they were forgotten. It was not always for political reasons that lettres de cachet were obtained; sometimes private persons got troublesome members of their families brought to reason in this way. The lieutenant-general of the police kept forms of lettres de cachet ready, in which it was only necessary to insert the name of the individual to be arrested. Sometimes an arrestment on lettres de cachet was a resource to shield criminals from justice.