ProQuest Dissertations - The University of Arizona Campus Repository

that of nouvellete. which refers to all the changes, but
principally those brought about by a new religion, which was
changing not only the beliefs and the cult, but also the form
of police, as governance, government and sovereignty, and
included economic changes diverting revenue from the King. In
"De la coustiame et de ne changer aisement une loy receue," he
says
Je suis desgouste de la nouvellete,
quelque visage qu'elle porte, et ay raison,
car j'en ay veu des effets tres-dommageables. . .
les maux et mines qui se font depuis sans elle,
et contre elle...(I, xxiii, I, p. 126).
The source of authority for coustume is considered
ancient and accepted usage. The ancienne coustume had
maintained the kingdom for centuries, since Montaigne knew
that things hold only for the most part, his part of the
dialectic is to urge that all follow what may be surmised to
be the ancienne coustume.
The term coustume used by Montaigne in the Essais.
includes all the meanings of the idea of police in the
sixteenth century. It designated political structures and the
management of states, and the way in which the conduct of
individuals or states might be directed. It included the
government of children, of souls, of communities, of families,
and of the sick. It included legitimately constituted forms
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