After the verdict of the Royal Court of Justice was announced, a court official came out to show the decree signed by His Majesty the King—that the Royal Court of Justice would be in charge of all trials involving Vergniaud.
The crowd immediately erupted into cheers again:
“Judicial power! The Royal Court of Justice has full jurisdiction now!”
“Long live the King!”
“Long live France!”
“God bless the people of France!”
“Punish the shameless judges harshly!”
The judges of the High Court watched all this from the building behind them. Had this been before, such an order encroaching on judicial authority would certainly have met with their remonstrance, but at this moment, they could only pinch their noses and accept it.
Outside, the public sentiment was inflamed. At this time, whoever dared to challenge the jurisdiction of the Royal Court of Justice, the mob would tear them to shreds immediately.
Despite there being hundreds of police officers around, the judges all knew that the police would not intervene even if they were torn apart.
The Royal Court of Justice was extremely efficient. In one day, they had already overturned six of Vergniaud’s previous cases. The victims, all crying and shouting “Thank God” and “Long live the King,” included many people so overwhelmed that they fainted on the spot.
The charges against Vergniaud were no longer of any concern; there were too many to count anyway.
The next day, the Royal Court of Justice had completed the retrial of all eleven cases involving Vergniaud.
In fact, there were initially more cases planned for retrial, but some were minor or the files had been lost. The judges of the Royal Court of Justice, strictly following the demands of the Crown Prince to resolve cases as soon as possible, temporarily ignored these kinds of cases.
Eleven major cases were enough for a heavy sentence.
Especially since in one of the cases, Vergniaud was implicated in conspiring with the defendant to kill a witness in prison, and the murder was wholly blamed on Vergniaud.
The defendant’s lawyer had not expressed any objections from start to finish.
At 4 o’clock that afternoon, the oldest judge picked up the judgment and first read aloud a long list of the various crimes committed by Vergniaud, and then pronounced loudly, “The sentence—is death by beheading!”
The emotions of the onlookers erupted like a volcano! Cheers and applause lasted for over ten minutes without pause. Many people spontaneously ran through the streets and alleys of Paris to spread the good news as fast as they could.
Standing on a shop windowsill in the distance, Mala jumped down with his right hand supporting him, dusted off his trousers, and snorted coldly, “Beheading? Hmph! That kind of guy only deserves hanging!”
The guillotine, as a less painful method of execution, was still a privilege reserved for the nobility; commoners could only be sentenced to hanging.
At the Paris Commercial News Agency, Denico got the news of Vergniaud’s death sentence and immediately, following Joseph’s prior instructions, took out the pre-prepared manuscript and started instructing the workers to print.
The headline on the front page of the Paris Commercial News read, “The High Court’s power is too great, who is to oversee it?”
The front page of “News and Picture Report” was titled, “The High Court meddling in governance, a grave danger!”
At the same time, Mala, Demulan, and others were also writing press releases as fast as they could, including details of Vergniaud’s case, discussing why the High Court had completely decayed, and the positive role of the Royal Court of Justice, among other topics.
Subsequently, these manuscripts were sent to various newspapers—now that the High Court was in disarray, causing its subsidiary news review agencies to halt operations, the newspapers were almost in a state of no supervision, and all sorts of news could be published.
In the onslaught of overwhelming public opinion, almost everyone in Paris was discussing the matters of the High Court.
Meanwhile, the crowd protesting outside the courthouse had greatly diminished, but there were still nearly a hundred people gathered there, demanding a thorough investigation of the judges, except for Vergniaud.
Soon, even the Palace of Versailles was caught up in the fervor of discussing the High Court and the case of Vergniaud.
After waiting for the public opinion to ferment sufficiently, Joseph went with Archbishop Brienne to look for Queen Mary, prepared to hammer the final nail into the coffin of the High Court.
In the tea room, the Queen began by praising Brian, “Archbishop Brienne, your excellent and effective work has brought hope to the nation’s finances. I must thank you for the effort you’ve put into the tax law.”
She had seen Brienne three times recently, making a point to compliment him in various ways each time. Indeed, she had been severely vexed by the matters of the law before.
Brienne quickly bowed and said, “Your servant is honored to be able to do what he can for the great France. In fact, the passage of the law this time is mostly due to the credit of the Crown Prince.”
Queen Mary smiled and nodded, taking it as a compliment to the Crown Prince.
She believed that her son must have played a significant role in this matter, but after all, he was still a teenager, so the real planning and strategizing were surely the work of the old minister, Brienne.
Joseph gave Brienne a significant look, whereupon the latter hurriedly handed the law to the Queen, “Your Majesty, this is the new law drafted by myself and the Crown Prince. I ask you to review it.”
Queen Mary took the several pages of documents, opened them, and curiously asked, “What is it about?”
Brienne hurriedly explained, “Recently, public opinion has been very supportive of the role that the Royal Court of Justice has played in the trial of the Vergniaud case. I believe that the court could serve to effectively oversee the High Court, to prevent similar cases from happening again.”
Queen Mary went through the law in her hands and saw that its main content was to grant the Royal Court of Justice the authority to supervise the High Court, including the right to conduct searches, audits, prosecutions, and sentencing, among a series of other operations.
It was also suggested to rename the Royal Court of Justice as the Royal Supreme Court, to show that it is a superior department to the High Court.
Furthermore, the law also stated that due to the High Court’s excessive interference in administrative affairs, it should no longer manage the news review agencies to enable the court to focus on judicial matters.
Queen Mary couldn’t stop her lips from curling up with pleasure—the High Court had “oppressed” her for so long, and to be able to appoint a superior department for it was perfect!
However, she immediately expressed concern, “Archbishop Brienne, this law will also need to be registered at the High Court. How could they possibly agree to such an arrangement?”
Joseph smiled slightly and said, “You just need to sign the law, and I guarantee that the High Court will pass it.”
The Queen looked at her son in surprise, then at Brienne, seeing both of them full of confidence. She then signed her name and afterward had the Clerk take it to Louis XVI for his signature and seal.
…
Paris High Court.
In the boardroom on the third floor, five senior members stared at the law in front of them, most with grim expressions.
This law was tantamount to looping a rope around the neck of the High Court. The end of the rope was clenched in the hands of the Royal Court of Justice, oh, now called the Royal Supreme Court. With a mere tug, they would be strangled!
Chief Justice Lue, with his hawk-like nose, slammed his hand on the table and growled through clenched teeth, “Such a law cannot be registered!”