3-080-065 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Les Gens de Justice. Un défenseur en Justice de Paix causant affaires dans son cabinet habituel, 1840. (The People of Justice. A defence lawyer in the Justice of the Peace discussing business in his usual office). Les Gens de Justice is one of Daumier's most celebrated lithographic series, in which the major theme is the victims to justice subjected to the special pleading of cynical lawyers. In this lithograph a lawyer discusses the case of a working-class client, whilst enjoying a drink at his preferred place of 'work' - the bar. In lampooning the legal profession, Daumier makes an irreverent joke at the expense of the bourgeoisie, the most powerful class in France throughout the 19th century.