Liberty vindicated against slavery (1646). Un écrit de prison contre la prison attribué à John Lilburne

Through the contextual study of one of the pamphlets, Liberty vindicated, due to John Lilburne, the most charismatic leader of the so-called Levellers, we are interested in what we may call the invention of the prison’s political writing. The prisoner not only denounces the iniquity of his own impri...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jean-Pierre Cavaillé
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Groupe de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur l'Histoire du Littéraire 2011-12-01
Series:Les Dossiers du GRIHL
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/dossiersgrihl/4884
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Summary:Through the contextual study of one of the pamphlets, Liberty vindicated, due to John Lilburne, the most charismatic leader of the so-called Levellers, we are interested in what we may call the invention of the prison’s political writing. The prisoner not only denounces the iniquity of his own imprisonment, but the juridical and political system that led him in jail for his political activism. This denunciation is based primarily on the legal basis which protects “free” citizens, which one can drawn from the Magna Carta and the common law jurisprudence. This strictly legal basis allows Lilburne to denounce all forms of arbitrary and abusive detention (special courts, imprisonment for debt, etc.), but also the bad conditions of detention of the prisoners. Finally he comes to the point to challenge the penal prison itself, and even, on behalf of citizens' fundamental right to freedom, any form of prolonged imprisonment, that is, fundamentally, the institution of imprisonment itself.
ISSN:1958-9247