ABSTRACT
States rest upon institutions both physical and social such as the Houses of Parliament, the Arc de Triomphe, the Palais de Justice, the National Health Service, Social Security, or a Court of Appeal; they instil a sense of permanence and stability. The eighteenth century gave rise to the notion that law1 and architecture2 could be used as devices for social engineering: ‘laws come to the aid of morals: the enlightened temple of justice forms a salutary contrast to the dark lairs of crime.’3 This revolution in thought climaxed in the French social and political revolution of 1789-99, was internationalised through conquest,4 and provided ‘the issues of liberal and radical-democratic politics for most of the world’.5 The revolutionary period offers an object lesson in how to use the institution to assert authority.
