REVISION OF THE LAW ON EMIGRANTS AFTER COUP D'ETAT OF THE 9TH THERMIDOR

Decrees on emigrants were adopted by both the National Constituent and the Legislative Assembly, but they did not aim to punish the French who left their homeland, but to facilitate their return. Only the National Convention began to pass repressive laws both against the emigrants themselves and against their relatives. The general law against emigrants was approved on March 28, 1793, according to which the French who returned to their homeland provided for only one punishment - the death penalty. On Frimer 17, Year II of the Republic (December 7, 1793), the Convention also decreed that sequestration had to be imposed on the property of the parents of emigrants. After the coup d'etat of the 9th Thermidor Year II of the Republic, the deputies began to gradually conclude that the legislation against emigrants and their relatives should be unified and revised considering new realities. After long discussions, a new decree was adopted on the 25(th) of Brumaire, Year III (November 15, 1794). This article is devoted to its discussion and analysis. The author concludes that, despite the fundamental changes in the policy of the Convention after the 9th Thermidor, the end of the Terror and the revision of many decisions taken during the dictatorship of the Montagnards, the deputies refused to radically change the legislation against emigrants. The reason that the Convention opposed the return of emigrants was both the unwillingness to lose part of the biens nationaux that served as security for assignats, and the image of an emigrant as an enemy of the Republic rooted in revolutionary discourse. Although the Committee on Legislation sought to alleviate the fate of, if not the emigrants themselves, then at least their relatives, other deputies did not agree with it.